Insecticide-free bread-making wheat – without the risk – RGT Goldfinch

The variety is also resistant to orange wheat blossom midge, giving growers the opportunity to grow an insecticide-free crop, which had obvious attractions particularly with produce intended for the human food chain.

Feedback from end users confirms RGT Goldfinch’s high-quality breadmaking potential, aided by its good protein content and an excellent and very resilient Hagberg score.

The variety also has a very strong foliar disease resistance profile, scoring 8 for mildew resistance, 9s for yellow and brown rust and 7 for Septoria tritici. It also has stiff straw.

In RAGT trials (harvest 2023), where plots were inoculated with BYDV-carrying aphids and received no insecticide treatment, RGT Goldfinch scored 106%, Skyfall 95% and Extase 92%.

RGT Goldfinch can be sown from early September, ideal for a BYDV-resistant variety, right through to the end of November, offering welcome flexibility in less-favourable autumns.

RAGT Seeds’ managing director Lee Bennett says: “This is a variety that is going to look after itself. It is not needy when it comes to fungicides and has no issues with either of the two major pests of winter wheat, and can be relied upon to deliver high quality grain.”

RGT Goldfinch is a Recommended List candidate and is up for full recommendation this autumn; commercial seed is available.

Key Strengths:

• Very strong disease profile
• Clean, consistent, and sustainable
• The UK’s first quality wheat resistant to BYDV & OWBM