In light of the potential effects of this year’s wet, cool summer, HGCA is warning growers that grain samples used for mycotoxin testing can only ever be as good as the sampling procedure used.

Whilst harvest is ongoing, HGCA experts suggest sampling from the trailer as grain is tipped, which is widely recognised as the best method for achieving a representative sample. Mycotoxin testing is a requirement for at least the first six weeks of the wheat harvest, it is vital that tests for DON, and where applicable ZON, are based on accurate grain samples provided by farmers to avoid rejections later on.

An HGCA spokesperson said, “with quality the subject of speculation following a wet June and July, good sampling practice could help growers identify appropriate markets for their grain and maximise returns, as well as avoid costly rejections.”

The agency has developed a grain sampling worksheet in collaboration with the NFU, NFUS, AIC, MAGB and nabim, which provides an overview of the most important points on sampling best practice in the form of an ‘at-a-glance’ reference text.

Dr Dhan Bhandari, HGCA Research and Knowledge Transfer Manager commented, “Carrying out sampling at harvest following this procedure will give the best possible picture of the mycotoxin situation on-farm. It is important that sampling is done right, so that the risk of the need for expensive retests, rejections, deductions and possible disputes is minimised.

“This summer, HGCA is also emphasising the importance of labelling samples clearly so that they can be traced back to the appropriate part of the grain store.”

Dr Bhandari added that the agency’s worksheet highlights a number of essential points to allow farmers to produce composite and representative samples for each individual bay, silo section or bin, even if this involves taking more than one sample from a single field. A mycotoxin risk assessment score, linked to each individual field, should be recorded on the grain passport.

Guy Gagen, NFU chief arable adviser, said that, when examining for mycotoxins, grain must be sampled more carefully and intensively than when sampling for quality specification, as “Mycotoxin contamination is not normally spread evenly in the field or even in an individual wheat plant and a few highly contaminated grains in a sample can give a misleading result for the bulk.”  

To download the grain sampling worksheet, risk assessment for fusarium mycotoxins in wheat and HGCA’s grain sampling - a farmer’s guide, which takes a detailed look at end-market requirements as well as sampling techniques, visit www.hgca.com/mycotoxins or order in hardcopy on 0845 245 0009 (quote G17).

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