United Kingdom
August 19, 2024
“A real step forward. Awesome is the only way to describe it.” Northamptonshire grower Andrew Pitts’ first experience with new quality wheat RGT Goldfinch has, to say the least, gone very well.
“We’ve had a terrific time with it,” he says. “It’s produced high yields and great milling quality, it’s resistant to BYDV and orange wheat blossom midge and it has the best disease resistance profile out there.
“It has ticked all the boxes in what has been a very difficult year.”
The 40ha seed crop was direct-drilled at the end of September after peas on medium-bodied land at The Grange, Mears Ashby. “Our Goldfinch looked good from the outset and tillered prolifically,” says Andrew. “It survived the really wet autumn and spring very well.”
RGT Goldfinch – Andrew Pitts (2) – sowing
The ground was too wet to travel to apply a T0. “We should have applied a growth regulator as the variety is very responsive, but we had to wait until GS31 when we applied 0.1 litres/ha of Moddus, and we went again at GS32. Because we were growing the crop on a very fertile but very exposed site, we followed up with 1 litre/ha of Terpal at GS37.
“The field is actually our most lodging-prone field, so this was a tremendous test for the Goldfinch. Of the 100 acres we planted, only one acre on the most exposed steepest slope leaned, but it remained easy to harvest.”
A robust fungicide programme was applied to the pre-basic seed crop. “Had it been a commercial crop we would have only given it a T2 as it has such a good disease resistance profile – the best we’ve seen. We would have used the genetics and not bothered with a T0 or T1.”
The Goldfinch received 200kg/ha of N for production and 40kg/ha on the ears in line with prediction test recommendations.
The variety was easy to combine thanks to its short straw and good standing, and was a couple of days earlier than the farm’s Skyfall.
It averaged 10.1 t/ha and surpassed full milling specification, with a specific weight of 76kg/hl, a Hagberg of 350 and 13.1 to 13.7% protein across the board.
“This year especially, that’s a really good performance, says Andrew. “The thing that thrills me most of all is the protein, in a year when everything else is struggling. To make full milling spec in a difficult season is a very good sign to me. Samples have been sent off for test bakes – if this isn’t a Group 1 milling wheat I don’t know what is.”
The RGT Goldfinch ended up yielding about 0.5t/ha less than the farm’s Skyfall, but its better protein level made all the difference. “Skyfall achieved 12.6 to 12.9%, which was pretty good this year, and overall it put in a terrific performance.
“But the Goldfinch secured a £600-£650/ha premium for making full spec milling and it was £50-60/ha cheaper to grow as we used more fungicide on the Skyfall.”
All crops at The Grange are farmed using an IPM approach so growing RGT Goldfinch, which is resistance to both BYDV and orange wheat blossom midge, is real progress.
Andrew believes RAGT’s BYDV-resistant (Genserus) wheat breeding programme marks a major step forward in wheat production.
“I think this trait is critical. If we can have wheats that require no insecticide at all, that is IPM at its absolute best. It good for the pocket, the environment and makes management so much easier. If you have a low-risk variety in your portfolio you can focus more effort on the high-risk varieties in a catchy time for spraying – it’s all about risk management.
“This has been a low-insect year here, yet the variety has still delivered financially. The IPM 4 insecticide payment under SFI is worth £45/ha, and it only costs about £14/ha for the Genserus royalty, the equivalent of the cost of applying one insecticide.
“RGT Goldfinch is also a low fungicide-input variety and clearly converts nitrogen well to protein.
“I estimate I’m £60/ha better off in terms of production costs, and it’s hit milling spec across the board with plenty of yield.”
“We will certainly look at it commercially this coming season and we will have a lot more double-break ground in 2025/26, so I imagine we will be growing plenty more pre-basic Goldfinch then.”
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