A European wheat variety was the top yielder in the first farmer-led variety trial carried out under full organic conditions.

Selecting which wheat varieties to grow can prove tricky for organic farmers, as even the untreated trial data in the AHDB Recommended Lists is not a true reflection.

Organic farmer Charles Hunter Smart, manager of Bradwell Grove Estate, points out that most research is carried out in non-organic conditions with the untreated controls only missing out on the chemical fungicides and growth regulations.

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This means fertiliser and weed control is the same as for any other conventional crop – so it is a completely unclear picture for an organic farmer.

To address this, an Innovative Farmers field lab trialled 17 varieties on the Estate in Oxfordshire.

It included some on the current AHDB Recommended list familiar to conventional farmers, along with heritage varieties and some new European ones.

Top yielder on the Cotswold brash soil last summer was the European variety Mortimer at 2.8t/ha, whereas Zyatt – the top-yielding milling variety on the Recommended List – and Anapolis were both significantly lower yielding at 1.9t/ha and 1.8t/ha, respectively.

Interestingly, Heritage wheat variety Maris Widgeon performed as well as commonly grown varieties like Skyfall and Revelation, both in terms of yield and protein content.

Looking ahead, Jerry Alford, arable advisor at Innovative Farmers, says that the trial is continuing and it will be interesting to see how the varieties fare in different weather conditions.

The field lab is being led by farmers from an AHDB benchmarking group, along with the Organic Research Centre and sponsored by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB).