Favourable harvest reports and trial results as growers, agronomists and seed specialists sense a winner

        With only a few weeks to go before the announcement of the new Recommended List (RL), new Group 3 Soft wheat Candidate variety Bamford continues to generate very high levels of interest from across the UK seed sector.

         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, ahead of all other varieties including Dawsum, Champion and Extase.

              Rodger 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.

             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.

           Danny 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 840l/ha on February 22^nd. On advice from our agronomist, Dan Hutson we went with a 4-spray fungicide program applied between April 19^th and July 5^th 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 3 months, but again, the crop stayed green showing no signs of stress.

       “Combining on August 10^th, 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 4 years. Echoing Danny’s appraisal of Bamford, he also recalls the crop being one of the cleanest he walked during a challenging Septoria year.

           Dan 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 2 plant growth regulators (PGR’s), opting for 1l/ha of Chlormequat at T0 with a litre of Chlormequat again + 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, its 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 2 or 3 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 Tritici, 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.

       From 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 adds” 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 (ROI) 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.