Serving the Farming Industry across the Midlands for 35 Years
Crop plots will be centre-stage at Cereals – enabling visitors to compare the top-performing varieties side by side.

• Breeders centre-stage at event

• All best varieties represented

• Cereals and pulses on display

Crop plots will be centre-stage at Cereals – enabling visitors to compare the top-performing varieties side by side.

Winter wheat and barley plots will showcase new and popular recommended list varieties, says arable project manager Jonathan Backhouse, who has curated 26 winter wheat and 14 winter barley varieties.

“We have worked with seed breeders on what they feel are the most popular, in-demand varieties that we need to be showcasing,” he says.

“While many of these varieties
are also on display elsewhere in the show, this central feature gives growers the opportunity to walk among them in one place for side-by-side comparison.”

Wheat

Wheat varieties from Groups 1, 2, 3 and 4 will all be represented. Malting, two-row feed, and six-row hybrid barleys will also be shown. They include varieties from KWS, RAGT, Limagrain, DSV, Syngenta, Senova and Elsoms.

“There is at least one variety from every breeder on the list,” says Mr Backhouse.

Growers continue to seek out high yielding varieties but disease resistance is also a key trait. “Yield is probably still number, but disease resistance is high on the agenda, as is versatility in wheats, allowing them to go for distilling or milling.”

LSPB sees Cereals as an opportunity to talk directly to farmers, says product manager Michael Shuldham. “We have crop plots with a wide range of varieties. Highlights include new oilseed rape varieties with phoma resistance gene.”

New LSPB spring wheat variety WPB Escape is a good, solid spring wheat, says Mr Shuldham. It is a hard Group 4 and is likely to prove popular with farmers who have blackgrass problems or as a crop to follow sugar beet.”

Pulses

For visitors interested in pulses, new winter bean variety Pantani will also be on display. 

“It is an early maturing variety and its shortness helps reduce lodging risk,” explains Mr Shuldham.

Back at the event for the first time since 2019, KWS will showcase its main portfolio of 16 wheats and barleys.These include winter wheats KWS Zyatt, KWS Extase and Group 2 candidate, KWS Ultimatum.

 BYDV-tolerant winter barley KWS Feeris will be on display alongside spring malting candidate KWS Curtis. KWS is also exhibiting a number of oilseed rape, hybrid rye, pea, oat and sugar beet varieties, says head of marketing Scott Manning.

Agronomy

On the agronomy side, a Corteva
oilseed rape plot will demonstrate the performance of herbicide Belkar against cranesbill, cleavers and
poppy. There are also plots show-
casing the effect of biological products from Soil Fertility Services and Amino-A.

Ceres Rural agronomist Will Cobley, who advises the event, says crops have been in glood condition after a kind autumn. But wet weather during early spring meant the first nitrogen applications were a month later than ideal.

Mildew has also been spotted in some winter wheats across the site. But Mr Backhouse says: “It is representative of what we have in the East of England and not a cause for concern. Everything is in good shape.

“A challenge we often have in this area is an extended period of dry weather in spring. Last year the rain came at the right time but in the two or three springs before there was a horrendous drought.

“We just need rain little and
often through May before the show in June.”