Cereals 2016: Crop plots reveal new varieties

The Cereals Event is the leading technical event for the UK arable industry with over 64ha of stands and live demonstrations including crop plots
The Cereals Event is the leading technical event for the UK arable industry with over 64ha of stands and live demonstrations including crop plots

Always a must see at Cereals, this year’s crop plots reveal an intense focus not only on high yielding varieties but on crops that will allow farmers, in tough economic times, to maximize output whilst reducing their cost of production.

The event – which takes place on June 15 – 16 at Chrishall Grange in Cambridgeshire – will see a predominance of new varieties that combine generous yields with agronomic characteristics that provide growers with much needed resilience and flexibility.

AHDB – 3 R’s

As such, the three ‘Rs’ of arable business ‘risk, resilience and reward’ will be at the heart of the AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds exhibit and their ever popular Recommended List plot tours will now cover over 150 variety plots including wheat, barley, oilseed rape and a new daily oats tour. Dr Grantley-Smith said: “With incentives for growers to diversify rotations, the oats tour and exhibit will help clarify the opportunity to grow for the oats market as part of a resilient arable business.”

AHDB experts will also encourage visitors to discuss ‘relative risk’ in relation to variety selection and applying the Recommended List to individual growing and marketing situations.

Limagrain

A range of new winter wheat, oilseed rape and spring barleys that are not costly to grow, but also offer the opportunity to earn a premium, are the highlight of the Limagrain stand.

Very high yielding soft feed winter wheats LG Sundance and LG Motown are aimed at the distilling and soft UK's export markets. LG Motown, has consistently yielded 104.3% over control, whilst LG Sundance has a very good ‘7’ rating for the yield robbing disease Septoria tritici.

The company’s oilseed rape breeding programme is responsible for Archimedes which offers early plant vigour and good autumn development as well as a very good disease resistance profile including clubroot resistance, a 6 for Light Leaf Spot and an impressive 8 for Stem Canker (Rlm7 resistance).

For spring barley, LG Opera is a Limagrain first: a ‘triple use’ variety it is under test by the IBD for brewing and also, spreading risk, both the malt and grain distilling categories.

Elsoms

Strength in depth is evident at Elsoms with four AHDB candidate wheats -Bennington, Moulton, Freiston and Dunston – lining up alongside Belgrade the AHBD recommended early maturing, high yielding (106%) group 4 hard feed wheat.

Newly recommended OSR Elgar tops AHDB E/W Recommended list with the highest gross output (111%) and an impressive disease resistance and agronomic package including the earliest maturity of the conventional varieties.

For spring barley the company offers Acorn, combining impressive malting potential with excellent disease resistance whilst oat varieties Harmony and Yukon combine high yields with good quality.

RAGT

RAGT is showing three breakthrough varieties, focusing on new and robust genetics to meet the needs of both farmers and end-users.

New milling wheat RGT Illustrious, has a treated yield of 100% and consistent baking performance, combined with excellent disease resistance and strong standing ability.

RGT Knightsbridge, is a high yielding, high alcohol soft Group 4-type wheat. Topping distillers’ tests over the past two years it also achieved, in 2014 and 2015, a score of 107% of controls for the UK, and 106% for the north.

RGT Planet, is the highest-yielding (108%) spring barley, ahead of any other malting or feed variety on the RL, and is in the process of IBD evaluation, having already been approved in France and Ireland.

NIAB TAG

NIAB TAG will be featuring variety demonstration plots alongside the latest independent arable advice focusing on future developments and the role of technology, including remote sensing techniques. Simon Kightley will advise on 15 winter oilseed rape varieties, linseed, peas and beans and Clare Leaman will be offering insight into winter wheat variety choices for 2016 with 30 established and new varieties on display.

NIAB TAG will also be helping growers to understand and tackle their blackgrass problems and offering advice on cover cropping strategies using phacelia, oats and vetch, crimson clover, medick and radish plots.

Senova

The variety Senova expects to receive most interest at Cereals 2016 is Costello, its new Group 4 hard feed wheat. A very high yielding winter wheat which combines excellent grain quality (highest specific weight of 80.4kg/hl, a Hagberg of 313 and a grain protein of 11.5%) with strong agronomic package, Costello offers growers the opportunity to maximize their output, keeping their growing costs in check and exploit its market flexibility.

One of the highest yielding candidate winter wheats, the hard feed variety Marlowe, with a yield of 107, has orange wheat blossom midge resistance to add to its good disease resistance ratings.

Bayer

Bayer will be displaying two new varieties in the oilseed rape plots, and promoting the difference that an oil bonus can make to crop profitability – as much as £142/ha.

InVigor 1030 (InV1030) is a candidate for the 2017/18 AHDB Recommended List, and has excellent yield, extremely high oil content and the best combination of disease resistance to both Phoma and light leaf spot.

Also available for planting in autumn 2016 is InVigor 1020 (InV1020), which has a similar agronomic profile to Harper, plus improved standing power and the highest oil content available.

Finally, spare some time for the packed programme of debates, panel sessions and technical seminars taking place in the Arable Marquee. These including Franek Smith of the British Edible Pulses Association (BEPA) and farmer Mark Wells talking about how pulses can more than tick the green box – they can be profitable too!