Michael Manners has finished combining winter wheat at Conicliffe Grange, Staindrop, Darlington, but still has spring oats to cut.
“We had an inch of rain on Sunday (30 August) and everywhere is just sodden – it’s just hopeless.”
First wheats Viscount, Oakley, Duxford and Magister yielded well, at over 9.9t/ha (4t/acre). But second wheats Napier and Duxford yielded less than 7.4t/ha (3t/acre).
“They were catastrophic – we should never have drilled them. It was too wet underneath in the autumn, and they just got take-all and died.”
The Atago spring oats looked reasonable but had low bushelweights, similar to wheat, which tested at just 72kg/hl, said Mr Manners.
Harvest was between 75% and 80% complete in the area. “There’s a lot of wheat left to cut round here – it will be taking a bit of harm now, and is starting to look a bit black.”
Crop: Winter wheat
Varieties: Viscount, Oakley, Duxford and Magister
Yield: >9.9t/ha (4t/acre)
Varieties: Napier and Duxford
Yield: <7.4t/ha (3t/acre)
|  Duxford winter wheat is an HGCA Recommended List 2009/10 variety with very high UK treated yields and a maximum 9 rating for resistance to lodging with and without PGR. Combined with the highest second wheat yield and a balanced disease resistance profile, Duxford will continue to help UK growers meet the challenge of producing more grain profitably. Go to the Syngenta Seeds website |