Farmers and agriculturalists from some of the UK’s major sugar beet producing areas have been celebrating success in a free-to-enter prize draw which was organised by Limagrain UK, the country’s leading plant breeder and seed producer, as part of the British Beet Research Organisation (BBRO) Winter Conferences.
Delegates who attended one of four winter conferences staged by BBRO in Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk during February were given the opportunity to enter the prize draw, which was part of a campaign by Limagrain UK to promote Valeska, a recent addition to the BBRO/NIAB Recommended List of sugar beet varieties.
A high-yielding Rhizomania-resistant variety with excellent adjusted tonnes and sugar yields, Valeska has good juice quality, a high sugar content, sound agronomic characters and good resistance to powdery mildew. Valeska is bred by Betaseed Inc, the most successful sugar beet breeding company in the United States, which has an excellent range that now account for a significant share of the European market, and for which Limagrain UK is the exclusive UK marketing agent.
The winners, who found their tickets inside specially-produced Valeska-branded fortune cookies which were given out at the BBRO winter conferences, received a range of prizes, including hampers, lawn seed and special seed mixtures for environmental purposes, such as bird feed, game cover and pollen/nectar mixes.
Winners included:
• Andrew Creasy, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
• Kathy Bean, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
• Nigel Rolph, Woodbridge, Suffolk
• Paul Garfoot, Chelmsford, Essex
• Simon Shayler, Melbourne, Derbyshire
• William Wright, Boston, Lincolnshire
• Joanne Nix, Melbourne, Derbyshire
Limagrain UK is the local agricultural and amenity seeds operating company of Group Limagrain, a fast-growing international co-operative group which specialises in agricultural and vegetable seeds, together with cereal products.
The largest plant breeder and seeds producer in the European Union, Group Limagrain employs more than 6000 people, including over 1200 in research, has subsidiaries in 38 countries, sells in over 100 countries and generates an annual turnover exceeding €1.35 billion.
