A fortune spent but some still waiting for money
Your regular correspondent Gwyn Jones if on holiday 'far from the madding crowd' and good luck to him, but it means I have to pick up my pen again, so for the next three weeks you will get an alternative version.
The drought conditions of the last month have enabled the earliest start to harvest for many years.
In perfect weather, the combines have been rolling for some weeks with oilseed rape and winter harvest finished, and good progress into wheat and spring barley crops already, but yields are generally down, and in many areas the crop has died rather than ripened.
For full feature see West Sussex Gazette August 2.