Difficulties planting winter crops due to the wet autumn could prompt a rush of interest from farmers in England in early planting of spring barley this season, seed firm Syngenta is predicting.

But if doing this, growers must assess whether they need to modify the crop’s husbandry accordingly, the company’s barley specialist Charlie Siggs said.

“Normally the optimum time for drilling spring barley in England is around January to March,” he said.

“However, we’re expecting more interest than usual in drilling before Christmas this year.

Factors to consider include being prepared for higher disease pressure, he added.