Harvest 2026 at Woodhall Estate: From Harvest to Seeding

A Challenging Harvest Season 

The lack of meaningful rainfall was one of the biggest factors affecting this year’s harvest. With conditions remaining exceptionally dry, the team also had to remain particularly vigilant due to the increased fire risk during harvest. 

The dry conditions inevitably had an impact on yields, which were lower than hoped for this year. Farming is, however, a long-term game. Every season brings different conditions and different challenges and one of the great things about harvest is that, whatever the year brings, you get to go again. 

For this year’s team, the priority throughout was bringing the harvest in safely. Despite the challenging conditions, everyone remained vigilant, worked collaboratively and successfully completed the harvest.

Bringing the Wider Team Behind the Scenes 

The end of harvest also provided an opportunity for the wider team to get a closer look at the work involved. 

The team came together for a morning of harvest learning, including a tour of a combine harvester with farmers Will and Rob. We were walked through how the machinery works and given an insight into the scale of the operation, as well as some of the key harvest statistics from the past year. 

It was a chance for the wider Estate team to see first-hand what goes into bringing the harvest in and to better understand the work carried out by the Rural Team throughout the season. 

From Harvest Straight Into Seeding

For the Rural Team, however, the end of harvest doesn’t mean the work stops. 

The team has moved straight into ground preparation and seeding for next year’s crops, making this another particularly busy period on the Estate. 

The dry conditions are continuing to create challenges, with the ground extremely hard and putting additional pressure on machinery. Equipment has already been breaking as the team works to prepare the fields, meaning repairs and maintenance are becoming an unavoidable part of the job. 

With a busy period of seeding now underway, the team is working hard to get the ground prepared and next year’s crops into the soil. After a difficult harvest, the focus has already shifted towards the next growing season. 

Looking Ahead to the Next Growing Season 

From bringing in this year’s harvest to preparing the ground for the next, there is very little downtime for the Rural Team. 

It may not have been the harvest we had hoped for in terms of yield, but it has been a season that has tested the team, the machinery and the land and one that was brought safely to a close. 

And it is the nature of farming. Leaning from one season, preparing for the next and come harvest time, you go again. 

With seeding now well underway, the focus is firmly on next year’s crops and another season of managing, working and caring for the land at here at Woodhall Estate.