Spring cropping


New spring barleys offer improved yields, says AHDB


T


wo new spring barley feed varieties, Fairway and Prospect – both from Se- nova – offer increased yield over current varieties, particularly in the eastern region, according to the new AHDB Recommended Lists for 2020/21.


Two new two-row winter feed


barley varieties, KWS Hawking and Jordan from Elsoms Acker- man, offer small yield increases over varieties with similar agro- nomic packages. Four new spring barley vari- eties are on test for malting and farmers are advised to merchants before they are grown. They in- clude SY Splendor, on test for brewing, which offers a yield im- provement over current varieties


at 107%, with good specific weight. Iconic, from Agrii, is also on test for brewing. It has recom- mendation for the western region only. Although behind on yield at 102%, it has very good brewing characteristics that should suit markets in the west. Firefoxx from Elsoms Acker- man is a new malt distilling vari- ety with improved yield, especial- ly in the West region. Finally, SY Tungsten has potential for both brewing and malt distilling. It of- fers improved yield, particular- ly in the west and north regions. In the spring wheats, new Group 2 variety Giraffe (from KWS) shows good milling qual- ities with a solid disease pack- age. Despite its name, Giraffe is


one of the shortest spring wheats on the RL.


Husked spring oat variety WPB Isabel offers both increased yield and good quality, with a ker- nel content of 76.8 % and an excep- tional specific weight (55.7 kg/hl). The AHDB has launched a va- riety selection tool for spring bar- ley and winter wheat. The tool, which will extend to other crops in 2020, provides a powerful way to navigate RL data, make com- parisons and identify the most promising varieties.


Users can set filters on the tool enabling them to home in on vari- eties and agronomic merit scores to reveal those with the greatest genetic potential to resist lodg- ing and diseases on their farm.


SY Splendor offers a yield of 107% over current varieties


Carrot shortage fears follow wet autumn W


idespread flooding and waterlogged fields mean there is a risk of


the UK running low on domestic carrot supplies this spring. Floods last autumn and early winter hit more than half of the UK’s carrot-growing area. Sodden fields continue to prevent growers from being able to put straw down to protect the crop from potential frost damage.


Commercial carrot growers


have been affected across northern England and the Midlands – in- cluding Lincolnshire, Nottingham- shire, Yorkshire, Shropshire and Lancashire. But farmers in East Anglia and Scotland escaped the worst of the weather.


Although carrot harvest-


ing has continued, flooded land has prevented growers from us- ing the machinery and equip- ment necessary to spread straw. More wet weather or a frost could wipe out large amounts of the UK’s carrot harvest. Coral Russell, from the Brit-


ish Carrot Growers Association, said: “The flooding has caught a lot of growers out. It has stopped them spreading straw as they usu- ally do at this time of year. They are sitting on a wing and a prayer and hoping we get a dry weath- er spell.”


22 MIDLAND FARMER • JANUARY 2020


Floods have affected half the UK’s carrot growing area


She added: “More than 50% of the carrot growing area in the UK has been affected. If we have a frost now or more wet weather then all the carrots that are not covered with straw will get dam- aged and be unsuited for the mar- ket. They’ll be rotten.”


Nottinghamshire carrot grow- er Mark Strawson said 2019 had generally proved to be an excellent growing season for carrots with both quality and yields above av- erage – until heavy rain from mid- September onwards.


“Unprecedented levels of rain-


fall have made field operation ex- tremely difficult with very few en- tirely dry days recorded over an 8-week period. The worst affected areas are the east and west Mid- lands and Yorkshire, where soils have been at field capacity for sev- eral weeks.”


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