As farmers in the rest of Europe continue to suffer huge crop losses because of the excessive heat, Irish cereal farmers are rejoicing in a good harvest which they hope to have saved before the end of the month.
However, Irish farmers, who have won the reputation in recent years as the highest producing grain growers in the world, are not expecting a bumper crop this year.
"We expect yields from the cereals this year to be slightly above the five-year average. It will not be a bountiful year, but it will be a good one and we will produce the two million tonnes of grain we are allowed under EU rules," said Mr Fintan Conway.
Mr Conway, who is secretary of the Irish Farmers Association's national grain committee, said what was special about this year's harvest was that it was being saved well ahead of normal.
"If the weather holds up, we expect to have virtually all the cereals, with the exception of late sown winter wheat, harvested before the end of the month," he added.
It was estimated, he said, that over 40 per cent of all cereals growing in the south of the country had already been saved and that up to 30 per cent of cereals in the midlands were already harvested.
He said the winter barley crop had delivered up to 3.1 tonnes per acre. In good years, the yields have been as high as 3.7 tonnes per acre.
Spring barley yields, he said, would probably end up at 2.5 tonnes per acre. In good years, it has been over three tonnes.
He said Ireland had produced a good oats crop this year and there was likely to be a large demand for the crop from abroad.
He said those who were worried that the malting barley crop, from which Guinness is made, was all right this year, he could confirm that it was up to standard and up to yield.
"We have grown enough for all the demand for Guinness," he said.
Demand for cereals will be high this winter because of a huge shortfall of between 40 to 45 million tonnes in the Russian and the Ukraine harvest this year, due to damage to the crops in spring and early summer from bad weather.
The weather on the continent has been so hot, following in the wake of a poor spring, that there have been reports that the EU may ban or tax the export of cereals to non-EU countries to protect stocks and prevent shortages.
The Commission said last week it had no plans at present to impose a tax on cereals exports to ensure a satisfactory level of domestic supply in the face of scorching weather across Europe.
Cereals markets had been buzzing with talk of an imminent move towards an export tax so that enough grain, particularly for animal feed, remained inside the 15-nation bloc in the short term.
EU wheat production is expected to be lower this year and there are fears of a sharp fall in the French and Italian maize harvests due to the record heatwave.