Goldfinch fits perfectly into BYDV-risk, early drilling slot
Harvest Stories: Richard Budd
An autumn deluge had more impact on yields than a spring drought for Kent grower Richard Budd. Crops that established well before 130 mm of rain at the end of September into early October have generally yielded well.
“Oilseed rape was excellent – it’s always been good for us, but this year has been really good,” Richard says. “Winter barley was also good because it was drilled in the narrow September drilling window before the rain.”
Winter wheat, with the exception of the relatively small amount drilled in that same September window, was much more impacted by the rain, with headlands and some parts of fields not recovering from lying wet.
“Yields were down over 2 t/ha on our usual 9.5-9.7 t/ha,” Richard says. “A lot of that I can attribute to the missing headlands because of the wet autumn on our heavy Weald clay soils. On lighter, sandy patches the drought also had impact, and it was really ugly.”
One bright spot was the performance of RGT Goldfinch, which Richard values for being cheap to grow, not requiring any insecticides, and having robust disease resistance, making it a useful option for early drilling on challenging land, where he’s not confident of applying sprays to protact against barley yellow dwarf virus in the autumn.
Drilled in the September window just before the rain, on a south-facing bank that two years previously had been decimated by BYDV, yields were in line with this year’s farm average of 7.5t/ha.
“But that doesn’t tell the whole story,” Richard says. “It was on some heavier land and the headlands didn’t come to much unfortunately. But where the crop was good in the middle of the field, it was yielding as well as the best of KWS Extase and SY Cheer. I was seeing 10, 11, and 12s on the yield meter, which I know is fairly well calibrated, so it can yield.”
Quality was also good with specific weights in the high 70s to low 80s, and a grain protein which he suspects will reach milling quality specification.
That means Goldfinch has its place on the farm, with around 110ha due to be drilled this coming autumn, including a block of marshland that is better drilled in September to get it well-established.
“It likes being drilled early as it is quite a slow developer, but it tillers well and if we don’t get back with an insecticide, I know it’s not going to fall apart with BYDV, which is important. After seeing what looked like BYDV on the flag leaf in Crusoe very late last year, I wonder about how much yield we lose to transient BYDV infections, which no one can tell you. But with Goldfinch you don’t get that problem.”
He was also able to save around £75/ha on fungicides compared with other varieties on the farm this season, helped by its good disease resistance, he says. “When new fungicides are £50-60/ha, that needs considering.”
Add in a Sustainable Farming Incentive payment for no-insecticide, and it fits well into his needs, he concludes.
