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 liked by millers, demand is strong, and we are increasing the acreage of Nelson to supply four 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, high quality winter wheat 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
- Suited to most soil types and has excellent Septoria, mildew, yellow rust and brown rust resistence
- 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
- Carbon neutral seed.
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.”
Berkshire arable farmer, Nick Philp, grows 80 hectares of Nelson E-class winter wheat, on contract to Heygates.
“We’re in the Thames Valley, which means it gets very hot and we are prone to drought. We’re not in record-breaking wheat yielding country, but Nelson performs well, holding its Hagberg with good grain quality”, says Nick.
“Our fungicide bill on Nelson is cut by 30% and the premium and reduced growing cost more than makes up for the lesser yield”, he says.
“We applied 250kg of nitrogen last year and reached 14 – 15% protein. This nitrogen application rate is on par with other conventional varieties on the farm, but they struggled to achieve 13% protein, so it is highly efficient, and this year we can get away with cutting back a bit to achieve the Heygates specification.
“Nelson also has a fantastic disease profile, it’s very clean, and is a tall wheat which doesn’t lodge”, adds Nick.
Nelson agronomy
- High untreated yield potential
- Suited to most soil types
- 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
- Wide drilling window, from the end of September to the end of February
- Early to mature.
Agrii Harvest 2019 (Essex)
Untreated | Untreated | Treated | Untreated | Treated | Untreated | Treated | Treated | Treated | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Yellow Rust (1-9) | Crop Heights (cm) | Crop Heights (cm) | Yield % Controls | Yield % Controls | Specific Weight (kg/l) | Specific Weight (kg/l) | Protein Content (%) | Hagberg (s) | |
Skyfall | 5 | 73 | 73.3 | 89.2 | 104.1 | 69 | 76.7 | 12.8 | 247 |
Crusoe | 1 | 75 | 76.7 | 105.7 | 102 | 75.6 | 78.6 | 13.3 | 294 |
Nelson | 1 | 82 | 88.3 | 112.8 | 98.3 | 76.4 | 78.3 | 13 | 355 |
Agrii Harvest 2018
Maturity | Untreated Crop Height | Treated Crop Height | Untreated Yield % | Treated Yield (t/ha) | Untreated Specific Weight (kg/hl) | Treated Specific Weight (kg/hl) | Treated Protein (%) | Treated Hagberg (s) | N Offtake | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Skyfall | 6 | 80 | 74 | 115 | 8.67 | 70 | 80.7 | 13.8 | 365 | 217 |
Crusoe | 6 | 80 | 73 | 70.3 | 9.18 | 65 | 81 | 13.7 |
348 | 212 |
Nelson | 8 | 93 | 88 | 117.8 | 8.42 | 76.5 | 83.5 | 14.2 | 378 | 201 |
- 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
- The specific weight of Nelson was the highest across the trial
