RLCRITICISM
Better than the best should be list qualification
By Andrew Blake
BETTER than the best should be the criterion for new varieties getting onto recommended lists.
That would mean fewer varieties in trials and fewer recommended varieties, cutting costs for seed growers, merchants and commercial producers alike, says David Buttle, chairman of Wilts-based WHD Seed Growers.
The accelerating turn-over of RL varieties is benefiting few in the industry, he says. "We believe the criterion should be changed away from equal to or better than."
Last year five winter wheat candidates vied for a place on the 2001 list and this year there are nine, he adds. "But just four varieties dominate certified seed production – 48% of the tonnage is Consort and Claire, 13.5% Malacca and 7.4% Savannah. The rest are effectively also-rans."
Unless the selection hurdle is raised growers may end up with an increasingly unwieldy list benefiting nobody, he warns.
Seed grower and WHD member Roger Moore, who farms 690ha (1700 acres) at Stapleford near Salisbury, Wilts, is equally concerned.
Choosing varieties to multiply ahead of recommendation is a long odds gamble for merchants and contracted growers, he says. Beaufort, Dynamo and Encore wheats, first recommended in 1995, became outclassed only two years later, he notes.
"If we get a vast list a lot more farmers could get their fingers burnt. If you grow something for seed and it is not required the reward isnt even in line with a commercial crop."
Mr Moore, who is a member of the Cereal Trials Advisory Committee, believes more weight should be given to end-user needs. Malting barley haulage costs after an Oxon maltings closed have had a big impact on southern growers choices, for example. "South coast shippers are really only interested in three varieties of winter and spring barleys – Regina, Pearl and Optic. There is really no market in the south for more."
A shorter list of stronger varieties would also give millers and maltsters the consistency of supply they want and would be less risky for growers, giving them longer to learn how best to grow them, says Mr Moore.
RLCRITICISM
• RL hurdle too low.
• Too many also-ran varieties.
• Turn-over fails to help end-users.
• "Better than the best" proposal.