Mark Means is convinced the variety’s outright yield capability in addition to features such as being shorter and stiffer than any wheat on the 2020 RL, mean little could beat Parkin in the UK’s best wheat growing areas.
“In addition to outright yield, it’s an early driller, seems to suffer little yellow rust - in fact we only used a PGR and some CTL at T0 as it was that clean - and its really short stiff straw means management proved simple and combining was really easy.
“We had brought it all in by the first week of August, so that early harvest slot is invaluable in getting ahead of things and planning your workload through the season.”
In RL trials at Terrington in 2019, Parkin delivered 119% of the control yield of 11.77t/ha to give a yield just over 14t/ha putting it way ahead of the other 40 or so varieties in the trial, Mark explains.
“The only thing that came close was the Group 3 KWS Firefly at 112% and that’s a variety that has given KWS Parkin a run for its money in the field this year too.
“In one field this year we saw 13.84t/ha with KWS Firefly with the yield meter showing 16t/ha plus in some areas. Quality has been consistently good too with specific weights around 77kg/hl on average, proteins reaching 11.5% and Hagbergs approaching 250.
“I know both varieties are suited to all regions of the UK, but in the right conditions, I’m convinced Firefly could offer the same yield potential as Parkin – and give you up to a £15t biscuit soft wheat premium in some seasons.”
Wheat has performed generally well in 2020, despite having some crops that were impossible to salvage following the difficult start to the season, Mark says.
“Across all our wheat, we achieved an average of 10.0t/ha, which considering we had some fields that yielded around 6.0t/ha and some that we just had to write off, isn’t that bad.”
