Wynnstay invest in new crop demonstration site
Wynnstay has established its first regional demonstration site in the East Midlands to help arable growers select more robust varieties based on their location.
The site, in Melbourne, Derbyshire, will become a testbed for recommended varieties of winter wheat and winter barley, with this year’s trials focussing on fungicide treatments.
The site will demonstrate comparative varietal performance to agronomic pressures including disease resistance and lodging performance.
The demonstration plots will be overseen by Wynnstay agronomist, Ellie Edwards, and combinable seed product specialist, Danny Richardson.
Mr Richardson said the site will give growers in the East Midlands a “guide” of how varieties perform based on geography and soil type.
He said this was important given how these factors can influence crop performance.
“Resistance to different diseases is a key reason for variety choice, so this was the first test chosen to demonstrate to growers,” Mr Richardson explained.
Local farmers will be invited to attend a site open evening at Pool Farm, Melbourne – Ms Edwards’s home farm – in June, the firm said.
Attendees will be able to view the plots, listen to independent speakers and plant breeders who will give advice on crop management.
The firm said the new site shows Wynnstay’s continued investment to help its customers understand their crops better, bolstering the other demonstration sites at Towton, near York and Weston Under Lizard, on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border, the latter hosting the popular Arable Event.
Future plans for the new site include further seed treatments trials and fungicide programmes.
