Nabim, supported by HGCA, is encouraging wheat growers to enter the 2012 Milling Wheat Challenge to find the country's best milling wheat grower.

Martin Savage, nabim's Trade Policy Manager said that the winner will need to demonstrate they are forward thinking and can consistently grow quality crops of bread-making wheats.

“UK flour millers are committed to UK wheat and farmers. More than 80% of the wheat we mill comes from UK farmers. We work closely with plant breeders and others in the chain to ensure that there is a good supply of top quality milling wheat. We want to support and encourage farmers to grow wheat of the quality that our customers require.”

The competition has become established as a  formal recognition by Britain's flour millers of how the country's best growers combine attention to detail with end-customer awareness and business acumen to create a win: win for the whole wheat chain.

"Growing quality wheat consistently is a difficult task which requires best practice in growing, storage and delivery to meet the exacting standards of the milling trade," Mr Savage explained.

Adding to Mr Savage's comments, HGCA's Arable Business Manager Pat Thornton said: "HGCA is pleased to be supporting this year’s competition as a way of promoting best practice in both growing and marketing milling wheat.  Our focus will be  on looking for growers who have a good understanding of their business costs and an ability to reflect that in their marketing.”

The three finalists in the Milling Wheat Challenge 2011 were James Price from Woodstock in Oxfordshire, Dan and Humphrey Squier who farm near Rochford, Essex and Pip Robson from Chathill in Northumberland. The overall winner was James Price.

The 2012 competition will open in mid-February and entry forms will be available via the nabim and HGCA websites.

The closing date for entries will be Friday, 30th April 2012 and the three finalists will be announced at the Cereals Event in June. Judging of the finalists will take place later that month.

The judges for 2012 will be Martin Savage from nabim, Pat Thornton from the HGCA and Mark Ireland a Lincolnshire Farmer and former  "Farmers Weekly Arable Farmer of the Year". Mark farms 740ha, including 215 ha of winter milling and feed wheat, 230ha of malting barley, 84ha of oilseed rape and 128ha of sugar beet; he is also involved with contract operations on another 650ha under a similar rotation.

Commenting on the competition Mark Ireland said of his approach to the judging:

"I’ll be looking for a grower who is enthusiastic about farming in general and more importantly in growing milling wheat.  Plus I'm keen to see someone who is making best use of the soil types farmed as well as their agronomic approach to variety, fertiliser use and fungicides. I will also look into the detail of the entrant's harvest and storage logistics and at their previous successes in producing the required milling specification."

The finalists, together with leaders from the UK wheat supply chain, will be invited to a celebration dinner hosted by nabim at the Ritz Hotel in London where the winning grower will be announced.

To find out more and to enter go to: http://www.nabim.org.uk/content/1/24/growing-wheat.html or www.hgca.com/mwc