Elsoms, the UK’s leading independent seed specialist and plant breeder, has announced a series of events to launch two exciting new wheat varieties, and to give the arable farming industry a taste of the exciting work Elsoms is doing for the UK market through Elsoms Wheat, Elsoms Ackermann Barley and HySeed.
“Elsoms’ are inviting cereal producers, agronomists, merchants, traders and the press to demonstrate that Elsoms’ varieties have the right agronomic package and characteristics for the UK market” says Roger Keeling, chairman of Elsoms Seeds. “They’ll find out about our exciting plans for the future, with an industry leading research pipeline that puts Elsoms’ at the forefront of plant breeding for the UK arable industry.”
The first Elsoms’ Launch Event, at Rothamsted Conference Centre on April 17, introduced by Keeling, will feature Elsoms’ head of wheat breeding, Stephen Smith and deputy head of wheat breeding, Milika Buurman who will take guests through the outstanding characteristics of Elicit winter wheat, the only newly recommended AHDB Group 3 biscuit variety, which combines very high yield with outstanding all-round disease resistance and impressive specific weight. They will also showcase Elation, the new Group 4 winter wheat from Elsoms, which has attracted strong demand as a result of its positive rating for distilling combined with impressive specific weight, a strong agronomic package and impressive yellow rust resistance.
Adrian Hayler, head of Elsoms’ Agricultural Division and Alexander Strube, joint managing director of Elsoms’ Ackermann Barley will present Elsoms Ackermann Barley. This is an exciting joint venture barley breeding company, with a similar strategic model to Elsoms Wheat, which is already attracting a lot of attention in the UK and European barley market. Hayler and Strube will detail the innovative new spring malting barley varieties, Chanson and Sangria. Both have attracted strong interest from end users and are already supported by attractive buy back contracts from Elsoms’ merchant partners.
Dr Richard Jennaway, technical director for Saaten Union UK and Andrew Creasy, product manager for cereals at Saaten Union UK will explain Elsoms’ industry leading hybrid wheat portfolio, marketed by Elsoms under the HySeed banner. “The hybrid wheat varieties that have been available in the UK recently have only appealed to farmers on marginal cereal land. The work we’ve done in developing hybrids will see a new phase of varieties starting to emerge from the “HySeed programme, with exciting potential for the UK market,” says Jennaway.
Jon Falk, managing director of SUBiotec, a leading plant breeding biotech facility in Europe, will explain the role his facility plays in supporting Elsoms Wheat and Elsoms Ackermann Barley. Falk will give an insight in to the next significant advance in plant breeding technology, that will help produce commercially strong varieties into a future where plant protection products are likely to play an ever-reduced role.
Colin Lloyd, head of agronomy at Agrii, will conclude the presentations by tackling one of the most pressing issues for growers with a look at the effect of variety choice on blackgrass control, demonstrating the strong performance of the Elsoms’ Wheat varieties in blackgrass trials over the last three years.
The meeting at Rothamsted Research will be followed by further launch events in Berwick and York, to be held in April and May, with precise dates and locations to be confirmed later. To register for this event, please visit elsoms.com/rothamsted-event
Source: Elsoms Seeds
