CropTecBuzz

Showing posts with label Cope seeds. Show all posts

In an uncertain world, one of things that we can be sure of is that fewer chemicals will be available to growers to tackle the dangers posed by pests and diseases in our cereal crops. At this year’s Croptec, Cope Seeds will be launching a new brand of seed, Excel that guarantees no blackgrass and improved germination and purity.

Currently producers of seed have two standards that they can work to – the EEC Minimum standard or the HVS, Higher Voluntary Standard. In neither of these standards is there a specific requirement for the seed to be blackgrass free. Equally both standards have a germination requirement of just 85% where the Excel standard is going to guarantee a minimum germination of 95%. This means that where the farmer is drilling to a specific seed number per square metre there is much more certainty about the number of seeds that will germinate and, therefore, the number of plants available for establishment.

How can Cope Seeds be so confident in these promises?

Excel seed will be grown by specialist producers who only use clean ground, will be inspected by our own licensed inspectors and will be treated in small seed plants where attention to detail can be assured. Growers of Excel seed have to pass a rigorous inspection to ensure that they will be able to supply the quality product that is required.

The launch of any standard like this must show that it is making a real difference and that means that some crops will fail. Currently we are launching with spring cereal varieties and it is expected that only about 10% of the seed available this spring will reach Excel standard.

For 2017, the spring barley varieties grown under Excel conditions are Evelina and Planet. Planet tops the recommended list for yield despite it being an approved malting variety. It has good straw strength and lodging resistance and a good disease package. Evelina is a semi exclusive variety with good grain and straw yield and excellent disease resistance.

	EEC Minimum	HVS Standard	Excel Standard
Minimum germination	85%	85%	95%
Analytical purity	98%	99%	99.7%
Other cultivated species in 1kg sample	14	3	3
Pieces of ergot in 1kg sample	5	1	1
Guaranteed blackgrass free	No	No	Yes

*Sample results based on the Official 1kg search

The spring wheat varieties that will be available as Excel are Anabel and the ever popular, Mulika and the Excel spring oat will be Aspen.

Excel seed will be launched at Croptec in Peterborough and more information about this exciting and important development can be obtained from Cope Seeds at the event. Because seed will be limited, early ordering will be needed to guarantee supply.

CropTec 2016

Make sure to visit Cope seeds on stand 151 at this year's event.

We also have over 140 exhibitors at the event displaying the latest science and technology across the trade stands, while CropTec’s well established seminars and hubs will feature the latest thinking on a range of key arable topics delivered by leading specialists.

The event is free to attend for those visitors that pre-book their tickets. ALL visitors will be charged £15 on the day.

Cope Seeds are a sales and marketing company of agricultural seeds and grain, built on thirty eight years of experience within the UK seeds industry. We process a wide range of species both conventionally and organically, which are marketed to wholesale and farmer customers throughout the UK.

One of the key parts of our business is the development of new varieties that bring benefits to both the UK farmer and end user. To date we have successfully commercialised a number of varieties including Atego, Rozmar and Vok Spring Oats, Sokrates and Magister Winter Wheat, Amaretto Spring Wheat and Armada Spring Barley and we are constantly trialling new material each year in both AHDB Recommended List trials and independent trials.

This autumn we are marketing a number of winter wheat varieties including Costello, RGT Illustrious and our exclusive variety, Nelson. Costello has the highest untreated yields of any variety from our portfolio and also boasts the best grain specification of any feed wheat. Costello is a short, stiff variety which suits both heavy and light soils. RGT Illustrious is a group 1 milling wheat with the highest untreated yields of any of the group 1’s. This variety has long straw but with excellent standing power and fantastic all round disease resistance. Our own variety Nelson is a German Milling E quality. Nelson is a dual purpose variety which is useful for feed and milling and is currently being grown on a buyback into Heygates at a group 1 premium. Heygates love the variety so much; they are offering it on the old Hereward tolerance contract. Nelson is a tall, stiff variety which keeps its green retention well. In 2 years of National Agrii trials, Nelson has the best resistance to Septoria, even beating the variety Graham.

Nelson winter wheat

Our seed portfolio features the winter barleys Cassia and Talisman. Cassia is a popular high yielding, 2 row feed accounting for nearly a 3rd of the winter barley market. It has good specific weights and resistance to lodging. Cassia performed consistently over the last 3 years and is resistant to BaYMV but susceptible to Rhyncosporium and Mildew. Talisman is an early to mature 2 row malting barley with very good disease resistance, especially Rhynchosporium and has a moderate straw length with good resistance to lodging.

Our new winter oat Eagle, is now in recommended list trials and is looking like an extremely promising variety, offering both yield and quality. One of our seed growers in Scotland has reported that the crop harvested on 22 August 2016 were coming off the combine at a moisture of 13.4% and an estimated yield of 10.6t/ha, demonstrating the varieties earliness and yield potential.

Eagle winter oats

Cope Seeds are offering the winter bean varieties Tundra and Wizard to growers this autumn. Tundra is a popular variety with a sowing window running from October to December. Tundra is suitable and adaptable to a wide range of soil types. Wizard can help spread the workload and are more suitable to heavy soils where establishment of spring beans can be a problem. However due to their relatively short straw compared to other winter beans growers should ensure that seed beds are level to avoid harvesting problems. Wizard takes approximately 98% of the winter bean market as it suits both growers and end users for domestic and export use.

Should you be interested in hearing more information on any of the listed varieties, or would like to hear about our wider variety portfolio, please contact us on 01529 421081 or visit us at Croptec stand 151.

Twitter

Popular Posts

Labels

Blog Archive