Grow Nelson on Buy Back
The low-cost milling wheat with high premiums for a local market
If you’re looking for a low-cost, high-quality milling wheat with a profitable regional market, look no further.
We’re looking for Nelson growers in a specific area of the UK to meet increased demand from Heygates millers and are offering lucrative buy-back contracts.
Due to its high grain protein content and quality liked by millers, demand is strong, and we are increasing the acreage of Nelson to supply Heygates mills within a 110 mile-radius of its four locations:
Bugbrooke, Tring, Downham Market, Bury St Edmunds.
We are offering buy-back contracts with a premium over group 1 milling varieties.
Nelson Benefits
High Quality
- Classed as an “E-quality” wheat with outstanding bread making credentials
- High gluten quality, with a high untreated yield potential
- Wide drilling window from September to February
- Early to mature.
Low Cost
- Proven to achieve higher levels of protein from lower levels of nitrogen
- Well suited to regenerative farming, can achieve good yields and quality from £250/ha inputs
- Suited to most soil types and has excellent Septoria, mildew, yellow rust and brown rust resistance
- Nelson has maintained its strong resistance to YR even in the face of sever pressure in the 2025.
- Can compete with blackgrass, due to its high canopy – with good standing.
Strong market credentials
- Unique opportunity to supply a local market with Nelson milling wheat
- Can earn a £15/t premium over normal group 1 premiums with its high protein and Hagberg falling number
- Mill looking to replace imported wheat with home-grown Nelson
- Area still to be placed for 25/26- Get in touch!
Grow for victory: Make Nelson your flagship crop
George Mason from Heygates millers, is clear that the demand for UK grown milling wheats is increasing
“We are committed to using the maximum amount of homegrown wheat wherever possible however for some of our flour we require wheat with specific characteristics or functionality that we cannot achieve with traditional grains. We have identified that Nelson grown to 14% protein brings us quality and functionality that will displace imported wheat. Through baking, we found Nelson showed a white crumb, no evidence of weakness and produced loaves of good volume. By offering a buy-back contract that incentivises growers, the combination of an additional quality premium and the benefits of the variety on-farm, we are finding the variety very popular.”
South Ormsby Estate grows Nelson for seed, its own-brand flour, and regenerative farming
Paul Barnes, estate manager at South Ormsby Estate in Lincolnshire, oversees 485 hectares of organic cereals, pulses, vining peas, temporary clover leys, and SFI and CS stewardship. Following the purchase of Walmsgate Estate in 2025, he also runs 647 hectares of conventional crops, including wheat, barley, spring oats, winter beans, and vining peas.
He is adopting a regenerative approach, trialling more sustainable cropping to eventually convert the entire operation to organic.
This year, he grew 20 hectares of Nelson winter wheat organically for seed production, which produced a clean sample with bold grain. It performed well under dry conditions, yielding 5.6 tonnes per hectare. “The harvest results were pleasing, so pleasing that as well as supplying the seed market, we plan to trial it in our own new venture, South Ormsby Wholemeal Flour, due to launch within 4–6 weeks of harvest,” he says.
Paul intends to continue growing the crop both organically for seed and flour, and conventionally to supply Heygates Millers, with 240 hectares planned for 2026 harvest. “It’s an out and out milling wheat and to us it’s a dual-purpose versatile crop – we know it performs well organically, and this is part of the decision to grow more conventionally, as part of a regenerative approach,” adds Paul.
Nelson agronomy
- High untreated yield potential with option to reduce fungicide spend
- Strong disease resistance for septoria, mildew, yellow rust and brown rust
- Can achieve higher levels of protein from lower levels of nitrogen
- Tall and stiff straw, with an ability to compete with blackgrass
- Suited to most soil types
- Wide drilling window, from the end of September to the end of February
- Rapid growth in Spring (good for weed competitiveness and drought tolerance) and early to mature.
- Trials with Agrii showed whether a dry or wet season Nelson consistently outperforms the two widest grown RL Group 1s for untreated yield, spec weight and protein.
- Private Trials in the 2024/25 seasons have shown that at low inputs (140kg/ha N, no fungicides, no pgr) that Nelson is the best all rounder for yield, protein and spec weight compared to all the current major group 1s including Cheer and Vibe.
Harvest 2019 (Wet year)
Variety | Untreated Yield % | Treated Yield % | Untreated Specific Weight (kg/hl) | Treated Specific Weight (kg/hl) | Treated Protein (%) | Skyfall | 89.2 | 104.1 | 69 | 76.7 | 12.8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Crusoe | 105.7 | 102 | 75.6 | 78.6 | 13.0 |
Nelson | 112.8 | 98.3 | 76.4 | 78.3 | 13.0 |
Harvest 2018 (Dry year)
Variety | Untreated Yield % | Treated Yield % | Untreated Specific Weight (kg/hl) | Treated Specific Weight (kg/hl) | Treated Protein (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Skyfall | 115 | 100 | 70 | 80.7 | 13.8 |
Crusoe | 70.3 | 106 | 65 | 81 | 13.7 |
Nelson | 117.8 | 97 | 76.5 | 83.5 | 14.2 |
- Nelson scored 7.1 for septoria, which was the best resistance in these trials. With scores of 9 for mildew, 9 for yellow rust and 7 for brown rust in years where other varieties have faltered under disease pressure and lost some of their resistance, Nelson has clearly shown its robustness
- Nelson is tall and was 10cm taller than Crusoe but scored a nine for standing
- Nelson matured earlier than any other variety in the private milling trial and matured two days earlier in its most Northern trial
- Nelson is a -2 relative to ripening dates of Skyfall and Crusoe
- The specific weight of Nelson was the highest across the trial