RAGT varieties help Welsh grower beat challenging conditions
Harvest Stories: Richard Darlington
Four RAGT wheat varieties yielded 8.75t/ha to 9.25t/ha, matching other varieties grown on the farm in a difficult season while providing evidence for grower Richard Darlington of resilience to the stiff combination of challenges presented by farming on the Pembrokeshire coast.
Given the drought-like conditions for much of spring and summer, the end result could have been much worse, Richard says. “In a normal season, it would have been disappointing, but we were quite relieved to yield that much. Usually, we would hope for closer to 11.25t/ha on average.”
Based 10 minutes from St Brides Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, his crops usually face high pressure from septoria, while mild winters with few frosts bring a significant risk from barley yellow dwarf virus.
That combination is why he has been keen to try RAGT’s BYDV-resistant varieties, with this year both RGT Grouse and RGT Goldfinch grown as a comparison in the same field.
“We’ve grown Grouse for a couple of years, but we have found it a little lacking in disease resistance, whereas Goldfinch has a better disease resistance package,” he says.
“As it turned out it wasn’t a year to test against disease with crops clean all the way through.”
That’s suited RGT Grouse, which tillered more profusely than RGT Goldfinch and produced a slightly bolder grain. “But despite the Goldfinch looking a little thin and more open, it yielded on the higher end compared with anything else.”
As a test, he also sprayed one tramline with insecticide for BYDV, but saw no difference between treated and untreated.
Richard has also been impressed by a small area of RGT Hexton, a new Group 4 soft wheat. Grown in a field alongside RGT Skyfall, Richard noted that it survived another challenging aspect of farming on the west coast of Wales – coastal salt storms.
“We are right on the coast, and if we get a storm with a southwest wind, it carries salt with it and scorches the crops. Hexton seemed to stand up to it much better than Skyfall,” he says.
He was also impressed with its big, strong flag leaf and autumn vigour. “It gave big bold grains and had no disease problems.”
With suitability for growing on his drought-prone red soils over sandstone, he’s planning to grow more Hexton to sit alongside RGT Highgrove, which has performed well on the farm for several years.
“I particularly like Highgrove,” he says. “In a normal year, we get some horrible weather around harvest, and it seems to stand well, doesn’t shed seed, and the straw doesn’t break down like some other varieties. It has good autumn vigour and is pretty bombproof in terms of a disease package.”
