Woburn Farms’ farm manager, William Haupt, worked closely with BDC Systems Ltd and its partner Thurlow Nunn Standen Ltd (TNS) on the design and installation of a future-proofed grain processing plant, that will continue to meet in-farm and contract drying and storage requirements. 

The new plant has excellent road links being strategically located close to Junction 13 of the M1.

Woburn Farms, part of the Bedford Estates, owned by the Duke of Bedford, consists of 1,880ha, of which 1,480ha are arable plus grassland and stewardship schemes. The farm grows feed and milling wheat, malting barley, milling oats, beans, peas and OSR. Additionally, the farm has contract farming agreements across a further 660ha.

Bottlenecks prompted new solution

“The Estate had previously worked with BDC Systems on the installation of a grain processing plant in 1993. Now 30 years old, it was too small and in recent years had worked very hard to handle our larger acreage and high output combines,” explained Haupt. 

“The increasing amount of high-quality grain and the pressure of completing timely harvests has been creating a bottleneck at the drier.

“The farm could only store 60% of our grain, forcing harvest sales of the remainder or the need to invest in external storage. Storing grain on farm also meant lots of double handling as we utilised multiple smaller buildings across various sites, resulting in inefficient cooling capabilities and high labour costs around handling and monitoring the stored grain.”

Superior design capability

Having taken the decision to build a new future-proofed plant, Haupt worked with another provider of post-harvest equipment who had submitted a design and quote. An encounter with BDC Systems’ technical manager resulted in Haupt meeting with Andrew Lee, BDC’s technical director.

“Andrew arranged for me to visit another plant designed by his team and I quickly realised that BDC’s grain handling expertise meant that it operated in a completely different league to other providers, in terms of design capability,” said Haupt.

“In particular I understood the value of a design that incorporated a twin intake system over one large grain pit as the PLC control panel from BDC would provide the ability to switch between crops without needing to stop the plant. 

“The twin intake system also gives us wet storage capability and the automated functionality provided by the control panel meant we could batch dry and clean grain on a contract basis, without having to drop grain into the main bunkers.”

In time for harvest 2023

BDC introduced TNS to the Woburn Farm team and working together the two companies, using specialist teams of suppliers and subcontractors, were able to manage the entire project from design, build and commissioning.

Regular site meetings and good communication across the different teams, the ability to cope with wet weather, a harsh winter, a 300mm high pressure oil pipeline running through the site and local authority challenges, allowed TNS to complete the new plant, delivering an additional 8,800t of storage (excluding an intake capacity of 500t), in time for harvest 2023.

The new plant consists of four Skandia 60tph intake chain and flight conveyors, a Skandia aspirator pre-cleaner, a Zanin rotary drum cleaner – also fitted with a Skandia aspirator – a Svegma 68tph continuous flow drier and two Skandia belt conveyors. 

Haupt also elected to install BDC’s Moisture Monitoring System (MMS). All equipment is housed within a specially constructed building which, with roof mounted PV panels, was designed with sustainability in mind.

How does it work?

Grain entering the plant follows one route with a drier bypass so that it can be taken in and processed through the pre-cleaner and soon to be installed optical sorter, without going through the drier. The drier feed conveyor overflows back to the intake.

From the drier or cleaner there are three routes the grain can take. To stores 1 and 2 via a Skandia belt conveyor, or to stores 3, 4, 5, and 6 via a different belt running in the opposite direction, or to bulk out on a Skandia chain and flight conveyor. All routes from the drier can include the Zanin rotary drum cleaner.

“We are installing the optical sorter so that we have the capability to remove any ergot from grain, which adds value to the site,” explained Haupt.

The plant has been designed with 30+ years in mind and without further development Haupt is looking at a return on investment through efficiency gains and increased marketing strength, within 20 years. He believes that the optical sorter will deliver a return in five years.

Greater capacity

“The new plant, plus the addition of the optical sorter, allows us to grow a much larger percentage of high-quality crops with the associated premiums,” said Haupt. “We now have the capacity for timely harvesting and the ability to clean and dress grains to meet exact market specifications, adding value to our own and our clients’ grain.

“Working with BDC and TNS has allowed Woburn Farms to benefit from a future-proofed grain processing plant that allows us to not only set, but to achieve, the highest standards of grain handling and storage for both ourselves and our clients. We are in a strong position to maximise today’s markets and those of the future,” concluded Haupt.

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The bird cherry-oat aphid is the main carrier of BYDV. During the week to 17th September, Rothamsted Research Insect survey trapped 8,298 of the pests, and a further 3,548 in the week to 24 September.

This takes the total since monitoring began in March to 23,405, which is already well above last year’s total (Mar-Nov) of 18,701. Grain aphids, which are also vectors of BYDV, number 2077 so far, compared with 2041 for 2022.

“Although 2022 was a relatively low aphid year, the mild weather allowed infection to continue across the country right through autumn and winter in most regions, triggering the T-sum for aphicide application four times across most parts of the UK,” says RAGT technical sales manager Dr Cathy Hooper.

“This season’s catch of bird cherry-oat aphids is actually tracking 2021, when over 94,500 of that species were caught, and we can expect numbers to build again over the next few weeks, especially looking at the weather forecast.”

Importantly, the number of cereal colonisers – winged asexual female aphids that migrate to cereal crops – is huge, running at 84% compared with the 10-year average of 41%.

“If we have another mild autumn and winter like last year, the threat of a disease epidemic is very real,” continues Dr Hooper.

“Many growers, not just those in the usual BYDV hotspots, could face another season of multiple insecticide applications and all the management and expense that entails, assuming they can travel with the sprayer.”

Obvious alternative

However, RAGT says more and more growers are discovering the benefits of growing the company’s Genserus (genetic security virus) wheats – Europe’s only commercially available wheats with BYDV resistance.

They offer an alternative to chemistry, as the resistance trait offers total control from planting to harvest.

Their potential has been clearly shown in a number of trials in the 2022/23 season, confirming several years of results in the UK and two decades of commercial production in Australia.

In RAGT’s own trials carried out at Ickleton, Cambridgeshire, seven Genserus varieties were compared against a range of popular and pipeline conventional varieties.

The trials received Recommended List-protocol fungicide and PGR treatments, but no aphicide at all. Plots were inoculated with four sets of BYDV-infected aphids at two-week intervals in the autumn and again in the spring.

All seven Genserus varieties significantly outyielded the conventional varieties (see Graph 1).

“This really shows how effective the resistance trait is,” says managing director Lee Bennett. “We’ve been trying to break it for years, but it still keeps delivering, leaving the competition in its wake in these high-pressure situations.”

A trial carried out in County Cork by Goldcrop, this time with natural BYDV infection only, also clearly demonstrated the strength of the BYDV resistance (see Graph 2). As at Ickleton, all plots received full fungi and PGR but no insecticide.

“Genserus varieties put in an impressive performance, taking the top three places, with RGT Grouse taking equal top spot at 106% of controls,” says Mr Bennett.

Genserus varieties have also performed well in AHDB RL trials where BYDV was confirmed or likely to have occurred, adds Mr Bennett. “It seems there’s definitely a Western pattern to the results.

“All varieties on all the sites will have been sprayed with aphicide, as per the RL protocol. So even where the conventional varieties are supported by insecticide, we’re seeing Genserus varieties more than holding their own in what are likely to be high-pressure situations.”

At the Glamorgan site, where AHDB has confirmed BYDV infection, RGT Wolverine came top out of 52 varieties, scoring 108% of controls, with RGT Grouse also doing very well, clinching a top 10 place on 105%.

In Shropshire, RGT Wolverine and RGT Grouse came second and third respectively, scoring 108% and 107% of controls. In Devon, the two varieties scored 113% and 108%.

RAGT is conducting further comprehensive trials this season, says Mr Bennett. “For harvest 2024 we’ve put in place a 17-site trial matrix dotted all over the Midlands, South and West and one in Ireland. We should have a big data pool next year.”

The post Time to consider BYDV-resistant wheat as aphid threat increases appeared first on Farmers Guide.

The new soft wheat, from independent breeder Elsoms Seeds, is currently the highest-yielding of this year’s RL Soft Group 3 candidates and, according to Rodger Shirreff, national seeds business manager for Agrii, its performances across 14 different sets of Agrii’s own wheat trials have shown Bamford to be the highest yielding winter wheat in both treated and untreated yield categories.

Mr Shirreff says: “Our trialling process is different to the NL trials, in that we test varieties in order to identify those that offer the best return on spend for growers, not the varieties which simply offer the best gross output. Across all Agrii trials, Bamford has been the highest-yielding wheat, regardless of group classification.

“With Moulton in its parentage, Bamford offers solid disease resistance including an 8 for yellow rust and a 7 for Septoria tritici, and that solid platform helps growers plan their spray program whilst also protecting the crop in the periods leading up to spray applications. With an average specific weight of 78kg/hl, Bamford more than makes the grade on its bushel weight and that contributes to the consistently high yields it achieves.

“On end use, growers have plenty of options in which to achieve premiums with the variety meeting the specifications for distilling, Group 3 biscuit and as a UK Soft wheat for export. This type of flexibility suggests that Bamford will be easy to market,” he concludes.

Disease resistance test

For Boston-based first-time Bamford grower, Danny Anderson, of P & N Anderson, a very bad septoria year in his area proved to be a good test for Bamford’s disease resistance credentials and the variety proved equal to the test.

Mr Anderson says: “We drilled on 31^st October last year into a silty loam soil at a seed density of 180kg/ha. Bamford followed a crop of sugar beet, so we ploughed and established it using a Sulky Combi-drill and were rewarded with even crop emergence and a relatively low weed burden to challenge the new seedlings.

“Bamford wintered well, despite some hard frosts, and looked very forward so we went with just one split of liquid nitrogen applied at 840-litres/ha on 22^nd February. On advice from our agronomist, Dan Hutson we went with a four-spray fungicide program applied between 19^th April and 5^th July and, despite a bad septoria outbreak which hurt some of our other feed wheats, both Bamford fields remained remarkably clean, and we saw no signs of septoria in the crop. There was also a lengthy dry spell between April and June where we saw virtually no rain in three months, but again, the crop stayed green, showing no signs of stress.

“Combining on 10th August, it yielded over 10t/ha with a bushel weight of 75.1kg/hl, and I’d have to say it was one of the easiest crops I’ve ever managed. It was robust, it stood well with no laid-over grain and appeared to have no real weaknesses,” he adds.

Agrii agronomist Dan Hutson has worked with P & N Anderson for four years. Echoing Danny’s appraisal of Bamford, he also recalls the crop being one of the cleanest he walked during a challenging septoria year.

Mr Hutson adds: “In my field notes I wrote how noticeably cleaner Bamford was; not just in comparison to Danny’s other wheats, but in overall comparison to the many other crops I’d walked for other customers in my patch. The crop showed good early vigour, but there was also an impressive second kick in the early spring following its only application of N.

“For insurance we applied two plant growth regulators (PGRs), opting for 1-litre/ha of Chlormequat at T0, with a litre of Chlormequat again plus 150ml of Trinexapac-ethyl applied at T1, given that the crop went into a very fertile soil. The variety looks extremely robust, and, although its yield potential initially draws the eye, it’s Bamford’s diverse genetic background that could be a key to its future success.

“In my experience, growers now prefer to spread their risk across two or three different varieties, but that can often be compromised if all the popular high-yielding types have similar parentage. We saw what happened in 2021, when wheat varieties with Cougar parentage were identified as having potentially weaker resistance to septoria, so the offer of a very high-yielding variety with a different genetic background, such as Bamford, could be a major positive for future winter wheat strategies,” he concludes.

Significant milestone

Elsoms Seeds head of agricultural sales, Toby Reich is delighted with the positive feedback, and sees Bamford as a significant milestone in the companies’ 11-year wheat breeding program.

He comments: “From seed merchants, advisers, influencers and the early adopter growers who’ve trialled the variety and multiplied seed for us, the feedback has been universally positive so far.

“I believe Bamford will establish itself as the winter wheat most likely to deliver the best return on investment in terms of its consistency to perform on-farm in all type of soils and rotations. It’s market flexibility, highlighted by Rodger, gives growers so many options for end markets, with a nice fall-back option for those who simply want to grow it as a barn-filler.

“Widening the choice for growers by introducing a very high-yielding variety with a diverse genetic background can only be a positive for the whole supply chain,” he concludes.

The post Favourable harvest reports and trial results for Candidate soft wheat variety appeared first on Farmers Guide.

Late drilling is considered to be from mid-October onwards and presents a unique set of challenges as well as opportunities to the crop, as the days shorten, soils get colder and crops take longer to emerge.

“As well as allowing for black-grass control and helping with avoiding aphid flights to minimise the risk of BYDV, as later sown crops take longer to emerge they are also likely to have less over-wintered inoculum, and a thinner canopy which may reduce disease pressure from septoria. But beware of an increased risk of juvenile yellow rust,” says Ben Haste, agronomist for Farmacy, based in Suffolk.

“However, these benefits need to be balanced against the risks of poorer establishment, reduced yield, and weaker rooting – as from mid-October onwards, soils will be rapidly cooling, resulting in less biological cycling in the soil and thus a much slower availability of nutrients to the plant,” he adds.

“We know one of the key components to achieving high biomass crops in May, June and July is the management of the early foundation stage of crop development, so it is important to ensure crops are not held back through nutrient deficiencies.”

Feeding the late drilled crop

“Success for this drilling slot requires more of a pre-planned approach to plant nutrition than earlier autumn planting,” comments Dick Neale, technical manager for Hutchinsons.

“Until the plant is up and out of the ground, and there is enough leaf to take a tissue sample, it’s not actually possible to gain an accurate measurement of any deficiencies – and even then, it’s not legal to apply nitrogen in autumn, so it’s important to consider this before the crop goes into the ground.”

He points out that phosphorus is key at this time in the plant’s growth both above and below the ground, and is best applied as a placement fertiliser at drilling – either as Primary-P or Crystal Green as microgranules, or Laguna as a liquid form.

“On black, fen soils, which is generally where much later drilling is being carried out, manganese can often be deficient, so it’s also important to consider this.”

Crystal Green is a struvite form of phosphorus, which provides a low carbon form of phosphorus that is removed from waste water. It’s not water soluble, so it doesn’t leach or move far in the soil, and therefore is best used later in the autumn when soils are generally wetter. Crystal Green works by responding to crop demand; naturally releasing phosphorus, along with nitrogen and magnesium (5-28-0 with 10% Mg), so the plant regulates what it needs.The phosphate in Primary P is highly water soluble, but protected from being locked up in the soil – making it well suited to lighter, drier soils.

Come the spring

“Late-drilled crops tend to be thinner with a more open canopy, so once spring arrives and soil temperatures begin to warm up and dry up, then this is the time to get on some early nitrogen, get the plant building and maximising tiller retention and really build up that critical biomass,” says Mr Neale.

“If conditions permit, apply 60–80kg N/ha in mid-February, ideally accompanied by fresh phosphate (unless phosphate went on earlier as a placement fertiliser), some potash to support shoot development, and sulphur to balance the nitrogen. Phosphites are well-proven at this time to bolster root and tillering.

“Then you should come back with the nitrogen regularly to keep the crops going, so you don’t leave a ‘hunger gap’. It will be possible now to take reliable tissue samples to get a more accurate nutrient picture and respond to this.

“Once crops are growing away, apply an early, low temperature-active PGR. This will help tiller retention, promote rooting and counteract the tendency for thick crops with thinner shoots to be more prone to lodging.

“It’s all a matter of recognising the challenges of later drilling and doing everything possible to counteract them so you can take full advantage of its valuable role in managing black-grass, without compromising yield,” Mr Neale concludes.

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The pre-harvest tests, analysing dry matter; starch; non-digestible fibre; cell wall digestibility and metabolisable energy content; were carried out at a maize demonstration and testing day, hosted by Limagrain and Spunhill at Limagrain’s maize variety trial site on the outskirts of Wrexham.

The event was attended by more than 40 farm businesses from across the region who not only had their own crop samples tested for free, but were also given a tour of the Limagrain variety trial where the latest forage, grain and energy crop varieties are being assessed in real-world conditions.

“The tests clearly indicated that whilst a minority of crops are already at the point of harvest, the majority are still a week or more away from being ready, with dry matter levels still a little on the low side,” said Henry Louth, key account manager of Forage Crops at Limagrain UK.

“For most maize growers, the start of this year’s harvest has been delayed by about a fortnight as a result of July’s dull and overcast conditions which saw sunshine hours at 81% of the average for the month. Most crops have caught up well since then, with a few notable ‘very early’ varieties including Dignity and Gema really standing out in terms of maturity.”

He added those two varieties tested especially well for dry matter, starch and ME content, and recorded outstanding results for cell wall digestibilty.

“If conditions in early October are favourable, we should see most growers taking their crops before the middle of the month, which will hopefully make for a clean and easy harvest and a good quality ensiled crop,” he concluded.

The post Farmers set for a bumper maize crop this harvest, analysis shows appeared first on Farmers Guide.

With its high specific weight, solid disease profile and strong traits, including an extremely wide sowing window from mid-September to the following March, the new Group 4 Soft wheat variety has already generated significant interest among seed merchants.

Blackstone, from independent breeder Elsoms Seeds, is currently the highest yielding of this year’s Recommended List (RL) Soft Group 4 candidates and was a first-time crop for Willie Murray, who farms 155ha of combinable crops at Wester Balbeggie farm, just north of Kirkcaldy in Fife.

He said: “Blackstone was recommended to us by seed specialists Harley Seeds, based on its very high treated yield of 105% in the north, and we drilled the crop on September 26th last year at a seed density of 205kg/ha into a medium loam topsoil with clay underneath following a crop of oilseed rape.”

According to Mr Murray, the variety’s early vigour was exceptional, and the crop easily outcompeted the combined weed burden of annual meadow-grass and broad-leaved weeds, coming through in excellent shape following a relatively mild winter.

“Three main splits of Nitrogen were applied, on February 27^th, March 31^st and April 3^rd – with a very small top-up dressing added on April 24^th,” he continued. “Before beginning our fungicide program, the crop was rolled in early spring to counter any frost heave and to encourage its roots system, in conjunction with an early applied plant growth regulator (PGR), to go deeper before the drier weather began.”

Following advice from agronomist Duncan Downie from East of Scotland Farmers, the Murrays settled on a four-spray fungicide program beginning with a T0 “half-spray” on 22^nd April and ending with a final T3 spray by 22^nd June.

Mr Murray noted Blackstone is a very stiff-strawed, tall and lush crop with plenty of fertility, which prompted the application of a PGR at T0, and again at T2 alongside the farm’s main flag leaf spray of mefentrifluconazole + fluxapyroxad + pyraclostrobin for additional insurance.

“Through May – July, and leading up to harvest on August 25th, the crop looked exceptionally clean during a relatively low-pressure disease year in our area,” he remarked. It combined well, producing an excellent amount of straw and a nice, clear bold grain.

“Average specific weight was very high at 81.5kg/hl, with a protein content of 10.3% that prompted an approach from a local flour mill to take the crop with the spec achieved as a soft biscuit wheat.

“Agronomically, the variety was easy to manage, and it stayed very clean, showing no stress despite seeing very little rain between April and June. The second growth kick we got from it after the first N application in the early spring was exceptionally good, and – although it’s not yet on the RL, I will definitely be drilling it again this autumn,” Mr Murray concluded.

A potential ‘game-changer’ for northern growers

Douglas Gordon, managing director of Harley Seeds

Echoing Mr Murray’s endorsement of Blackstone, Douglas Gordon, managing director of Alexander Harley Seeds (Milnathort) Limited, is very positive about the variety’s future and sees its long, flexible drilling window as a potential game changer for many northern and Scottish growers.

“Having first heard about Blackstone last year, I was initially impressed with both its 105% treated yield score in Scottish trials and a robust disease package that includes a 9 for yellow rust, a 6 for brown rust and a 6 for Septoria Tritici,” he said.

“However, with many winter wheat growers in both southern and western Scotland often unable to get a crop in the ground during the winter months, the appeal of a variety able to be sown from mid-September to, potentially, the following March could be its key trait.”

He added the variety looks to be of serious interest to many Scottish growers currently relying on lower-yielding spring wheats, as well as larger acreage winter wheat growers who want to spread their harvest window.

“With positive potential for the distilling market, a high yield, plus its suitability for mixed farms based on an ability to produce a lot of very stiff straw for cattle, if it achieves RL status in November then it should attract serious interest in Scotland,” Mr Gordon noted.

George Goodwin, Elsoms head of Technical, was delighted with both the yield results and grain quality from the JW Murray Blackstone crop and links the positive on-farm performance and its leading position in this year’s RL Candidate trials to the variety’s strong and diverse genetic background.

“Blackstone is a Panacea and Tempo cross. Whilst the benefit of that may not be immediately obvious to a lot of growers, when you look further back into the genetic lines you see that it’s related to outstanding former wheat varieties such as Riband, Consort and Claire.

“This rich history of British soft wheats is a key reason behind our confidence in Blackstone’s quality performance for domestic, export and distilling use,” he explained.

In trials, the variety has exhibited lower than average levels of stress and comes with a strong disease package, including orange wheat blossom midge resistance and sturdy agronomics, Mr Goodwin said.

“I’ve monitored Blackstone’s high yield performance over the last couple of years and am confident that it’s a real contender for northern and Scottish growers,” he concluded.

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Digitising paper passports to improve data communication through supply chains has been a topic of discussion for over a decade. As a result, a simplified version of previous proposals has been developed has been developed over the past year, and is awaiting consultation.

The work has been a collaboration between representatives from all parts of the cereals and oilseeds chain, including merchants and animal feed receivers, farmers and receivers.

The group has also received support from experts at AHDB, as well as advice from a broad range of interested parties such as hauliers, port facility operators and businesses outside the organisations represented on the Leadership Group.

The business case sets out how a Digital Passport (Combinable Crops) system would operate, replacing existing paper passports. The electronic documentation will, as now, be initiated by farmers with input from hauliers, before being transmitted to receivers.

There will be live updates of assurance status prior to the vehicle leaving farms, avoiding the risk of delay or rejection at the receiver’s site.

In addition, the system will enable a multi-directional flow of data between farmers, grain merchants and end users such as millers, maltsters and feed mills. This includes a commitment to the real-time return of information to those involved in the chain.

The proposed system has been devised to ensure ease of use, as well as minimise costs and maximise accessibility. To this end, developers have explored the potential for existing software and off-the-peg systems to be adapted to the grain sector’s needs, along with a more bespoke approach.

The business case will be published in early October detailing the purpose, benefits and costs. The purpose of the consultation is to ensure industry needs are addressed, highlight gaps in the system and establish the level of support for the project.

Provided the proposal is accepted, the Leadership Group would then approach the AHDB Cereals and Oilseeds Sector Council to discuss funding options. Additional funding would be sought from all available sources to keep costs as low as possible to direct passport users.

To take part in the consultation process, contact your representative at the respective trade association or get in touch with AHDB via David.Eudall@ahdb.org.uk to receive an update.

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Direct drilling was introduced at County Durham-based Raby Estates in 2018 with the aim of building a more sustainable cropping system without compromising on the quality and quantity of crops produced.

It is a challenge that LG Typhoon lived up to last season, according to Mr Vickers, who decided to trial the variety on the recommendation of Limagrain UK’s arable technical manager, Ron Granger.

“We’re trying to move away from growing high input varieties, so are primarily looking for those that offer a robust disease package, good standing power and suitability for our direct drilling system,” Mr Vickers explained.

“Direct drilling in northern England is not something you want to be doing into November, so I also look for varieties that suit the early drilling slot. From what we’ve seen so far, LG Typhoon seems to fit our requirements well.”

Strong performance

Last season, the farm grew around 32 ha (80 acres) of LG Typhoon, alongside several other varieties, but Mr Vickers has been so impressed with its agronomics, ease of management and yield performance, that he plans to increase this to 100 ha for 2023/24.

The variety averaged an excellent 9.4-9.6 t/ha, despite a number of weather-related challenges throughout the season, including exceptionally high Septoria pressure, which did not make for an easy growing season.

LG Typhoon was direct drilled in mid-September as a first wheat after oilseed rape, using the farm’s 6-metre Horsch Avatar, or 6-metre Väderstad Seed Hawk, drills. Seed rates were kept relatively high at around 300/m², to counter the slightly lower establishment percentage experienced when direct drilling.

All crops received a base application of phosphate and potash fertiliser, plus a total of up to 170 kg N/ha in the spring, applied as three splits; the first as granular urea, followed by two liquid nitrogen applications.

“We have been reducing nitrogen use significantly in recent years, but in contrast to conventional thinking, some crop yields have gone up in that period,” Mr Vickers noted.

“Agronomy-wise, LG Typhoon was problem-free,” he continued. “It established quickly in the autumn, got away well in the spring, and was relatively early to harvest, tight behind Graham.”

But even though it established quickly, he said LG Typhoon did not get too large, unlike some other varieties, which continued tillering throughout a very mild autumn, during which temperatures hit 21°C in November. Those varieties then became much harder to manage with growth regulators and fungicides in the spring.

Robust disease profile

Strong Septoria resistance is a must-have for all winter wheat varieties grown on the farm, as the disease remains the number one yield-robber in high pressure seasons such as 2023, Mr Vickers said. “We generally look for varieties with a Recommended List score of at least six.”

With a Septoria rating of 7.3, backed up by a combination of genetics that are different to those in other RL varieties, giving LG Typhoon a distinct advantage over other varieties.

Although crops received the farm standard fungicide programme, based around Iodus (laminarin) at T0, bixafen/prothioconazole at T1, Univoq (fenpicoxamid + prothioconazole) at T2, and straight tebuconazole at T3, he was able to reduce rates by 10-15% on the LG Typhoon due to its robust disease profile.

“To ease management, we generally try to keep fungicide products similar across all varieties, but will look to vary the rate where appropriate.

“Despite doing so on the LG Typhoon, we still didn’t see any disease of significance at all last season, even though there was very high Septoria pressure which caused some other varieties to struggle.”

Accurate spray timing is also key to maintaining effective disease control, as is a robust trace element programme to bolster plant health and reduce the crop’s susceptibility to disease infection, he added.

Perfect fit for regen systems

Mr Granger said LG Typhoon has certain attributes that make it ideally suited to strip tillage/direct drilling, regenerative crop establishment systems, that often feature wider rows.

LG Typhoon’s growth habit, for example, means plants sit prostrate with slower growth through the winter into spring, which is ideal for those direct drilling earlier in the autumn and who do not want a variety that races off too quickly.

It is a high tillering variety that has the capacity to utilise the space between the wider rows, often found with some direct drilling equipment.

Indeed, while Mr Vickers’s Horsch drill works on a standard row spacing, the Väderstad is at a slightly wider 180-200mm spacing, and he also trialled a new 12-metre tine drill last season, which worked on a wider 250mm row width.

“Unfortunately, we don’t yet have the yield data available, as the demo field was combined by a contractor, but the LG Typhoon did seem to really suit that wider row spacing. It’s something we may potentially look at in the future, although I’m not sure a 12-metre machine is suited to some of the smaller fields on our farm.”

Another attribute of LG Typhoon that makes it a good fit for regenerative systems, and for those looking for flexibility with crop protection inputs, is its strong standing power and disease resistance – reflected by its high untreated yield (92%), Mr Granger said.

Unlike some other feed varieties, it also offers Orange Wheat Blossom Midge (OWBM) resistance, in addition to a six-rating for eyespot and Fusarium.

“It’s a high yielding, consistent and resilient variety, that delivers across seasons and rotations,” he concluded.

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The future viability of maize being grown in the UK has been called into question due to the government planning to impose a ban on all seed treatments, including Korit (ziram) bird deterrent, Redigo M (prothioconazole + metalaxyl) fungicide and Force 20 CS (tefluthrin) insecticide.

The ban would mean that, from 31^st December 2023, it would be illegal to import, sell or sow any seed which has been treated with any of these products, leaving crops at significant risk of failure.

“Without a suitable bird repellent, insecticide and fungicide, there’s a substantial risk that newly drilled crops could be completely wiped out by corvid grazing, or seriously hindered by insect damage and soil-borne pathogens,” explained Tim Richmond, maize manager for Limagrain Field Seeds in the UK and Ireland.

“Corvids are highly intelligent birds, and quickly understand seed drilling patterns, with any attempt to drill seed deeper to prevent bird damage likely to exacerbate the risk of seedling blight, making the application of a fungicide seed treatment such as Redigo M even more critical.”

To counter the ban, which has threatened the industry as a result of the UK’s departure from the EU, an industry working group – spearheaded by Limagrain UK – has been set up to lobby the government into taking action.

“Limagrain has taken a leading role in this sector-wide campaign which has also included the MGA, AIC and NFU,” Mr Richmond continued.

“A number of emergency authorisation (EA) applications have been made to the regulators for the continued use of these treatments for sowing in spring 2024, with a decision on whether the ban will be withdrawn or delayed due imminently.”

According to Mr Richmond, the Expert Committee on Pesticides is scheduled to meet in September, with a final announcement are expected to be made before the end of the month.

“As things currently stand, we’re confident that our ongoing discussions with the Farming Minister, the Rt. Hon. Mark Spencer MP, will have a favourable outcome and that all three seed treatments will still be available for use in 2024 – either as a result of the Emergency Authorisations being granted, or because of a change in the law to delay the withdrawal date,” he added.

Despite the imminent announcement, there remains significant uncertainty amongst UK maize growers, with some already suggesting they are preparing to sow an alternative crop such as wholecrop winter wheat.

“We appreciate that the clock is ticking and that for some growers any announcement might come too late,” Mr Richmond said. “But until a concrete decision has been made, we’d urge growers not to rush into making any changes to next year’s rotation.

“We will know more in a relatively short timeframe and will announce the Committee’s decision as soon as it has been made known to us. In the meantime, we are continuing to lobby for the new generation of maize seed treatments to be registered with the CRD as quickly as possible to ensure maize remains a viable crop in the UK in the long-term.”

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Emma’s best individual field of Mayflower achieved a yield of 11.18tha.

Ms Bletsoe, who farms 490 ha of combinable crops on heavy clay soils, alongside son George and farm manager Stuart Prior at Denford Ash Farm near Kettering, achieved average yields of 10.62t/ha on a 29.38ha crop of Mayflower cut between 10^th – 16^th August at moisture levels of 13-15%.

On the back of these encouraging results, she now plans to drill at least 60ha of the Elsoms variety later this autumn.

“After a stop-start harvest we were delighted with Mayflower’s overall results with one field, in particular, yielding an excellent 11.18t/ha,” she said. “Stuart noted that it combined extremely well, producing a nice bold grain with early samples confirming a high Hagberg of 335-368 and an overall specific weight of 78kg/hl.”

Ms Bletsoe added it was her son’s decision to go with Mayflower last year, based on the variety’s high untreated yield figure of 93% on the Recommended List as well as an excellent disease resistance package.

As part of the farm’s integrated pest management strategy for blackgrass control, Mayflower was drilled a bit later in the season between 5^th and 12^th October. According to Ms Bletsoe, the crop established well as a first wheat following winter beans, showing good early vigour.

“In mid-February we began our Nitrogen strategy with 248kg/ha of Piamon 33N – a granular urea nitrogen fertiliser with sulphur that is well suited to earlier timed applications. This was followed by 140kg/ha of Urea applied in early March, before a final application of Ammonium Nitrate at 110kg/ha which went on between April 27th and May 3^rd.

“Following advice from our independent agronomist, Damian MacAuley of Indigro, we went with a 3-spray fungicide program consisting of a T1, T2 and T3 spray.

“At T2, we included the plant growth regulator Terpal (mepiquat chloride + 2-chloroethylphosphonic acid) in the tank mix for additional insurance, and, by late May, the Mayflower was standing well and looking very clean despite high disease pressure earlier in the spring,” she explained.

Resilience amid weather challenges

George Goodwin, Head of Technical at breeder Elsoms Seeds

Elsoms Head of technical, George Goodwin, is delighted with the uptake in interest on Mayflower and has received positive feedback for the variety in a year which has proved agronomically very challenging for milling wheats.

“There’s little doubt that this year’s challenges have had an impact on harvest. Many farmers have frustratingly navigated a stop-start harvest which has negatively affected both yield and quality.”

Mr Goodwin pointed out that cool wet weather this spring meant that crops were less resilient to endure weeks of hot and dry conditions in what has been the UK’s hottest June on record. At the same time, the weather challenges proved to be an excellent opportunity to showcase Mayflower’s resilience compared to other varieties.

“Mayflower is a strong tillering variety with vigorous spring growth that has enabled it to emerge through a tricky season better than many other group 2 varieties,” he explained.

“Partnered with exceptional disease resistance and genetic disposition for high protein, Mayflower continues to grow in popularity catching the eye of many progressive farmers. The buzz of positive news around its performance this year should give growers reassurance that they’ve made the right choice.”

In the context of high input costs and reducing reliance on chemicals, Mr Goodwin added: “With its very high untreated yield there’s a good opportunity for growers to reduce fungicide inputs for greater cost efficiency, and, on marketing, beyond its bread making qualities, Mayflower is also suitable for export.”

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