Mike Pickford is the only breeder in the UK focused on conventional oilseed rape varieties. The independent plant breeder believes that a top-performing conventional oilseed can outperform some hybrids and he brings five decades of experience to his work.
“My philosophy of breeding follows a “Component analysis technique” to achieve a high harvest Index, by improving individual yield components. It is a case of simple mathematics such as increasing the number of pods, increasing the number of seeds per pod and increasing the seed size, leading to higher yields,” he says.
He also looks for clean green stems during the ripening phase, enabling more efficient photosynthesis during the grain filling process. Mike’s preferred varieties stay green for longer, building yield until the end of the season.
Pi Pinnacle is the latest variety from Mike, which has topped the conventional AHDB Recommended List in both gross output and treated yield.
Neil Groom, general manager for Grainseed, reports that their conventional winter oilseed rape variety has produced a high gross output across all AHDB regions and is recommended for the whole of the UK in 2025/2026.
“Pinnacle has been in official trials for 5 years now and has given consistent performance in those 5 years. Its consistent treated gross output throughout the UK means that it has become the new conventional control variety for AHDB official trials 2025/2026. It was also the most widely grown conventional for sowings in 2024. Most growers re-sowed their Pinnacle autumn 2024 for harvest 2025.”
While the weather was challenging in 2024, yields in the trials averaged 4.92t/ha, just below the long-term average.
“At harvest in 2024 many growers reported much lower incidence of adult cabbage stem flea beetles in the trailers, and we have seen much lower levels of adult feeding damage at emergence allowing better establishment of the crop. This has given many growers higher confidence in growing the crop again and benefitting from higher break crop margins. Pinnacle shows good seedling vigour and establishment, with good spring vigour.”
.Becki Gibbs, seed manager for United Oilseeds, says “There are a number of excellent varieties available this season which have been bred to overcome some of the challenges faced by OSR growers and Pinnacle is an excellent example We’re pleased to have Pinnacle in the portfolio for 2025 and would strongly encourage growers to order their seed and support the ongoing success of this iconic crop.”
Mike concludes that he has several new varieties in the pipeline, based on Pinnacle’s background but with an additional 10% in yield traits. “I am looking at a variety Pi73 which looks nice in the field and is now entered into Official NL trials.”