Crop storage


Provisional harvest results confirm variable quality


• Wheat proteins among highest on record • Hagberg levels ‘some way below last year’ • Final survey results due later this month


W


heat protein could be on track to be the high- est on record, suggest


initial results from the AHDB Ce- reals & Oilseeds quality survey for harvest 2017.


But wet weather during har- vest has affected Hagberg Falling Numbers. Average protein stood at 13.2% for 2,858 wheat sam- ples analysed by 31 August – a record for first provisional results. It compares to the three-year av- erage at this stage of 12.1%, says AHDB analyst James Webster.


Milling quality “We are seeing the highest ever average protein level for GB at this stage of the cereal quality survey. However, protein content is a weak indicator of milling and baking quality. There will also


“


Summer rainfall meant a challenging stop-start harvest


be a number of questions asked about the functionality of the pro- tein (gluten) this season.” Hagberg Falling Numbers for all of the wheat sampled to date averaged 259s, some way below last season when they averaged 319s at the same point in the sur- vey. The provisional result this season is also lower than the pro- visional result for the 2012 har- vest (267s). But Mr Webster says the 260s


averages of nabim Group 1 sam- ples this year is above the 250s level required to meet the re- quirements for full specification bread wheat. Even so, Hagberg levels have varied greatly across the wheat crop, ranging from 79s to 432s.


“Because the samples so far are biased to the earlier-har- vested regions, we could well see the average Hagberg level fall- ing further. Later harvested re- gions were hit harder by summer rainfall which led to a challeng- ing stop-start harvest for many.”


Consistency


The nature of the fractured 2017 harvest has also raise questions over the consistency of quality of the domestic wheat crop relative to imported supplies. At 76.8kg/ hl, specific weights are the low- est since 2012, but not far off last year’s first provisional average of 77.2kg/hl. Mr Webster says: “Of the na- bim Group 1 samples analysed to date, it looks like Crusoe has been most affected by the drop in Hag- bergs, falling from 306s in last sea- son’s provisional results to 247s in the 2017 first provisional es- timates.”


These first provisional results


have a regional bias towards East Anglia and south-east, represent- ing 36% and 38% respectively of the total sample. Furthermore, nabim Group 1 varieties account for 62% of the samples analysed to date.


Second provisional and final results are expected to give a much clearer picture of UK wheat qual- ity as a whole, addressing region- al and varietal biases. They will provide further clarification to the extent that grain quality was affected by rain during har- vest.


Barley nitrogen ‘could prove challenging’


Provisional results for bar- ley show that nitrogen lev- els could prove challenging for some markets – although specific weights and grain siz- es are broadly in line with last season.


The first provisional results indicate increased average ni- trogen levels averaging 1.69% of dry matter for samples to date across GB. As a general rule of rule of thumb, Scottish maltsters prefernitrogen lev- els under 1.65%.


Results


The results also indicate a higher specific weight and grain size than last year’s provisional results, although this is still behind the three year average of final results. Some 8,545 barley samples analysed from across GB av- eraged 64.7kg/hl,


1.1kg/hl


greater than the same stage last year.


PIC TO COME


Provisional screening data shows 2.7% of grains passing through a 2.25mm sieve, com- pared with 4.4% at this point last year. Furthermore, some 91.1% of grain was retained by a 2.5mm sieve compared to 88.5% at the same stage last year. One characteristic seen across both wheat and bar- ley is crops being sampled at higher moisture levels. “Av- erage moisture level of bar- ley sampled was 15.5%, which will result in a greater volume requiring further drying be- fore the crop can be processed,” says Mr Webster.


Provisional results will be updated early this month with final 2017 Cereal Qual- ity Survey results available in late October or early No- vember.


OCTOBER 2017 • MIDLAND FARMER 21


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