Exhibitors gathered at the Cereals site at Thoresby Estate, Nottinghamshire, on the 20th of April to view their crop plots and discuss plans for the event on the 13th and 14th of June.
Six hectares have been established with a wide range of crops. Arable project manager for the event, Jonathan Backhouse said: “We had a kind autumn and good conditions for drilling. It was a kind winter up until the period after Christmas when we had some late frosts. Recent rainfall has been welcome on the sandy land here.”
Mark Carter, co-owner at BioNature, is returning to the event. He explained: “Last year we had a real success and so much interest. This year we’ve raised our game and have trial plots of oilseed rape (OSR) and wheat.
“We are looking at where we use Delta – nitrogen in a special form which encourages rooting, tillering and stem strength. It is applied at T0, T1 and T2, saving extra passes. We can tell differences in evenness of wheat and branching of OSR already.”
KWS will showcase its wheel-shaped plots of winter wheat, winter barley, spring wheat and spring barley – a feature which proved popular last year. New Recommended List spring wheat varieties Alicium and Harsum, as well as the spring malting barley Curtis, will be on display.
“We had brilliant success last year at Cereals – it was the first time we were back after a break. It was really good for getting farmer contact and we are looking forward to that aspect this year,” said technical specialist Olivia Potter.
A range of crops
Alongside Cereals, there will also be trials of sugar beet, including Conviso Smart, in separate plots treated and untreated for weeds. Martin Brown, AgroServices manager at KWS, said: “We also have a virus yellows tolerant variety and a very exciting upcoming variety that’s tolerant to Cercospora.”
NIAB will be at the event, demonstrating options to support resilient arable systems. Visitors will be able to see a range of niche and under-utilised crops, which could become more popular over the next few years, explained Stuart Knight, director of agronomy.
“With five herbal grazing ley mixtures alongside buckwheat, quinoa, grain maize, durum wheat, hybrid rye and triticale, growers have the option to view the crops above and below ground in the 20m long NIAB Soil Hole.”
Lee Bennett, managing director at RAGT Seeds, is looking forward to the event. “We have a bit of everything. We have breeding plots with new and established varieties including wheat Group ones Skyfall and Illustrious and Group four Bairstow, and new two-row winter barley, Orcade. There are also plots containing barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) resistant and tolerant varieties.
“It is nice to see what’s out there and meet the competition. Cereals is a great networking event.”
Visitors to the Corteva plot will be able to see the results of a new nitrogen efficiency optimiser, widely available for the first time this year.
“BlueN is a biostimulant containing a naturally available bacteria that enables crops, including cereals, oilseed rape and maize to fix nitrogen from the air and make it available throughout the plant’s lifecycle. Farmers will be able to view crop plots treated with BlueN and talk to Corteva’s experts on the stand over both days,” said Alex Nicols, marketing manager.
DSV is celebrating its 100th anniversary at the event, showcasing the Sensation barley variety, said to be resistant to BYDV and barley mosiac virus types one and two.
Cereals host, Gregor Pierrepont, partner at Thoresby Farming and Estate is looking forward to the event, both as a learning experience and as a social event. “I’m incredibly honoured and excited to play a part in Cereals, which has been a key part of the farming calendar for decades.”
For more information, and to book tickets, go to www.cerealsevent.co.uk
