IT MIGHT have taken its time, but harvest finally arrived earlier this week for most us.

With the cool, almost sun-less summer and many areas - including our own - seeing more than twice the average rainfall during July, it would probably be fair to say that expectations hadn't been running all that high for either grain yield or quality.

The catchy weather since the middle of August hadn't helped the crops to do that final bit of ripening off either - but with a few decent days at the beginning of the week, I would imagine that most folk are likely to have grabbed the opportunity to get at least some cutting done.

Of course, one good thing about starting off with low expectations is that it sometimes doesn't take all that much to leave you pleasantly surprised - and the wheat and the spring barley we've managed to cut so far seem to have managed to do just that.

Although some of the spring barleys have been a bit mixed, we've had some thumping crops which have challenged last year's yields - and with nitrogen levels so far all falling into the previously unheard of sub-1.15 bracket, we're hoping to avoid any problems on this front, at least this year.

That said, though, some of the crops were beginning to look a bit on the delicate side, with a good deal of the barley beginning to brackle and I'm not sure that they would have stood up to much more in the way of poor weather without shedding and suffering some quality issues.

Now I don't know if it had anything to do with the exceedingly low nitrogen levels, but some of the Concerto seemed to be quite delicate to harvest, with a close eye having to be kept on the combine drum speed to avoid splitting the grain. This didn't actually surprise us too much, though as our first line moisture measuring system - biting through the peas to see how firm they are - didn't seem to be the usual tooth-chipping experience.

But, if the yields have been better than we might have expected, we'll certainly need them - because if anything has come as bigger surprise than how well the crops have done this year, it's how steeply the price has fallen.

With reports of feeding barley making around £90 a tonne - if a home can be found for it - and wheat sub £110, the bank accounts certainly aren't going to be piled as high as the grain stores, even after the cheques have dribbled in.

Now I've no desire to detract from the efforts of the European farmers who were demonstrating outside the farm minister meeting in Brussels earlier this week - for there are undoubtedly huge problems in the dairy, pigmeat and other livestock sectors, some of which have been due to political decisions - but I'm pretty sure that cereal growers have seen the price of their produce drop by at least as much as other sectors, compared with the peak of only a few years ago.

So, with little in the way of flag - or placard - waving going on for the sector at the protest in Brussels, it was good to hear that the grain side of things had been represented in the delegation which went down to Westminster on the same day to make the case to our own MPs. As this was one of the best combining days of the year, I think we should recognise the sacrifice made by the contingent which went on the lobbying exercise.

But grain producers seem to be far less likely to make a public song and dance about the state of the industry than other sectors - why this stoicism?

Temperament and experience might account for some of the difference between the horn and corn men - after all running around shouting can sometimes help if a herd of cattle or sheep is heading off in the wrong direction, yet it seldom influences how a crop of barley grows.

But, as one farmer said, it's more likely to be because cereal growers have been trading in the full blast of the cold, unforgiving wind of the global marketplace for longer than some of the other sectors.

You could read into this that the arable sector had absorbed some of the cynicism which goes hand in hand with free market trading - and those working in it have grown the protective shell of low expectations, as mentioned earlier, to shield them from disillusionment.

Alternatively, it could be that those in the grain side of things have more practice in the use of futures markets, forward contracts and even options trading to distance themselves from some of the vagaries of the marketplace.

However, even with these mechanisms in place, no one can be totally insulated from the current slump in commodity prices - and it's often not until the cheques actually arrive a month or so after the grain has left the farm that reality hits home.

But even then, any stunts to garner public support through direct action might be difficult - mainly because no one ever goes to the shops for a kg of wheat or barley. Copying the milk boys with a supermarket trolley challenge which moved all the bread might get attention, but very little breadmaking wheat's actually grown in Scotland.

In fact, as most of our produce goes to the brewing and distilling industries, we might be faced with the prospect of emptying the booze aisles - which, however attractive a proposition, could prove more than a little expensive.

I suppose we could always target the porridge oats!