Peace of mind from new winter wheat

Agrovista has pledged to donate 10% of seed sale profits from its new winter wheat variety Mindful to two farming charities.

Mindful is a new hard Group 4-type wheat from Agrovista Seed. The variety has achieved high yields of quality grain across a range of sites over different seasons, helping to  underpin grower profits across the country.

Sales of Mindful seed will support the farming community in another way too – building on a partnership forged between Agrovista, the Farming Community Network and Scottish charity RSABI last year.

Agrovista head of marketing Jodie Champion said: “Given the unprecedented challenges the agricultural sector is facing, we wanted to help farmers and their families access the emotional and practical support that both charities provide.

Many farmers face increasing business and personal pressures that could seriously affect mental and physical wellbeing if left unchecked, said Ms Champion

She added: “It is vital that those involved in agriculture and their families have access to a sympathetic person at the end of the phone who understands farmers and rural life.

“Our donation will support the exceptional work that both charities carry out every day. But, more importantly, we hope that by extensively promoting the charity helplines, this may just help one person out when they need it most.”

Consistent results

When it comes to in-field performance, Mindful has shown high-yield consistency and topped in-house trials in two very different years, said Agrovista technical seed specialist Stuart Cree.

“Mindful offers a consistently strong yield performance across differing regions and drilling dates, and after a range of previous cropping and as a second wheat.”

Mindful produced the best mean yield across Agrovista’s AgX trial sites in 2021 and 2022 at both extremes of the sowing window. Drilled last September, it produced 14.89t/ha. A late sown crop drilled in November the same year yielded 15.44t/ha.

Disease resistance

Mindful achieved a two-year mean yield of 13.15t/ha at the Agrovista AgX site at Haddenham, Cambridgeshire. The variety combines disease resistance ratings, suggestive of multi-gene protection derived from parents Evolution and Costello.

Trials carried out as part of National List trials placed Mindful in the top three yielding varieties when sown after peas or cereals pre-ploughed before 25 September, said Mr Cree.