Build in the risk factor before pulling out the stops to get a top quality milling sample, wheat growers have been advised. The premium on offer for the high acreage of Group 2 wheats, and the chances of missing the grade, may not warrant the extra effort and expenditure to squeeze out the protein required.

“We’ve built up four years’ experience in our COGS (Co-Ordinated Growing Systems) trials of how to fine tune nitrogen regimes to get a milling wheat sample from newer varieties,” explains Masstock’s Throws Farm technical development manager Mike Jeffes. “But the main lesson we’ve learned is that growing milling wheats is a gamble. You cannot reliably ensure your sample will make the grade, and there seems to be no good reason for it.”

Last harvest proves the point, says Mr Jeffes. “For most growers, 2004 was not a good harvest. There is a lack of milling wheat because many growers missed the grade. This year there is a large acreage of quality varieties in the ground. So growers must think carefully about their crop marketing before they start fine-tuning nitrogen regimes.”

The area of Group 1 varieties has fallen from around 15% to 11.5% of total winter wheat plantings, notes Mr Jeffes. “This means it will be worthwhile looking after them properly. Millers may well be short of good quality Class one milling samples.”

But Group 2 varieties have climbed from around 19% to 24% of the market. This means there will be opportunities for quality samples, but growers should look at the local market first, urges Mr Jeffes.

“If you have a mill on your doorstep, it may be well worth aiming to get a 13% protein content out of your Einstein. If you have an export facility nearby, aiming for an 11-12.5% protein, 250 Hagberg, 76 kg per hectolitre sample may make more sense.”

But second-guessing how much Group 2 wheat millers will include in the grist is another gamble, and one growers should not base their marketing and crop management on. “Last year’s results suggest many Einstein growers did not set out for quality, regarding any premium as a bonus.”

Demand for quality Group 2 samples also varies between varieties. “Solstice is generally regarded as better quality, so will be more in demand. Cordiale is somewhere between Einstein and Solstice.”

The secret to obtaining a quality sample lies with ensuring the crop is well-supplied with nutrients throughout the growing season. Nitrogen applications should focus on developing the ear, rather than tissue growth. So don’t apply too much until stem development is underway and a late boost in mid-May is needed for the protein content. Careful attention to late season fungicide applications must be made to ensure the plant is healthy enough to feed the ear.

But new nitrate restrictions give little margin for error if aiming for a quality sample, and the weather also has the major say in whether your efforts to get a high protein are successful. “That’s why you have to ask yourself whether the premium you will get, and the chances of not receiving it, are worth an extra £6/tonne haulage cost. So it’s all very well to produce a blueprint on how to produce a quality crop. But it’s important growers build in the risk factor.”