Grow Second Wheats For The Farm Not The Market

July, 2005 - Second wheats are still worth growing even at £60/tonne, believes leading independent crop consultant, Brian Beeney. But only for those who grow for the farm rather than merely the market, and do the job well.

"In the subsidy-free world you need to be thinking seriously about continuing to grow second wheats if you can't consistently produce 8 t/ha or more," suggests Brian who runs the Holderness-based East Riding Crop Consultancy with his son, Andrew.

"On light, sandy Vale of York land, for instance, the risk of failure with second wheats is simply too high to be acceptable for most these days. In contrast, on the medium to heavy land of much of Holderness, second wheats remain very viable, producing 9-10 t/ha if managed well for no greater cost than first wheats.

"The fundamental key to success with wheats in general and second wheats in particular is to grow them for the farm not the market," he insists. "Everyone is always telling us to grow for the market. But quality wheat markets are fickle and highly variable. Premiums are very much of a moveable feast. And the more growers produce for the specific markets the lower the premiums they actually pay.

"Yield, on the other hand, is far more within the grower's control. And, at the end of the day, yield is what always pays the bills. So the over-riding priority for growers must be to concentrate on getting the yield by growing what their land grows best. And doing it as well as possible." First on Brian Beeney's list of essentials for doing second wheats well is variety choice. The field-scale second wheat trials he and Andrew have run for the past four years at Foxton Farmers Ltd, Conniston on the outskirts of Hull confirm their experience that some varieties suit the second wheat slot well while others do not.

"Claire is a classic to avoid, as is Robigus," Brian explains. "Equally, Napier is about the most solid second wheat you can get. And, amongst the newer varieties, Einstein and Gladiator look good too.

"In the absence of take-all treatment, our trials have shown a yield advantage of at least 0.50 t/ha for Napier over Claire every year in the second wheat slot , rising to nearly 1.8 t/ha last season and averaging over 1.1 t/ha over the four years (Table 1).

Table: ERCC Second Wheat Trials
   Variety Performance without Take-all Treatment

Year	Claire (t/ha)	Napier (t/ha)	Napier Advantage (t/ha)
2000/2001	3.24	6.88	0.64
2001/2002	9.76	10.26	0.50
2002/2003	9.43	11.00	1.57
2003/2004	5.84	7.63	1.79
Average	7.82	8.94	1.12

"Napier and other good second wheats don't really establish any better than Claire and other poor varieties in the slot. But they seem to have the robustness to keep on growing, to grow away from the take-all challenge, and to build a solid rooting system which stands them in especially good stead through the stresses of the summer."

Interestingly too, within what they know to be good second wheats Brian and Andrew Beeney find it is invariably the best performing varieties that respond best to take-all seed treatment.

"In the three years we've compared the two varieties directly in our trials, Napier has responded consistently better to treatment than Option," notes Brian. "On average, indeed, treating Napier with the take-all fungicide, Latitude (silthiofam) gave a 1.12 t/ha yield boost over our controls compared to 0.6 t/ha with Option.

"We've also seen consistently better responses from the specialist dressing compared with multi-purpose Jockey (fluquinconazole). To such an extent that, even with wheat at £60/tonne, we've had a highly cost-effective result from the Latitude. And what's more, we've seen a healthy positive margin over its cost year-in, year-out regardless of the season (Table 2).

Table: ERCC Second Wheat Trials
  Take-all Treatment Responses

Year	Claire (t/ha)	Napier (t/ha)	Napier Advantage (t/ha)
2000/2001	3.24	6.88	0.64
2001/2002	9.76	10.26	0.50
2002/2003	9.43	11.00	1.57
2003/2004	5.84	7.63	1.79
Average	7.82	8.94	1.12

* 300 seeds/m2 ; 50g TGW; Fluquinconazole @ £106/t; Silthiofam @ 155/t.

"While the early foliar disease control of fluquinconazole may be valuable in some cases, specialist treatment with silthiofam is clearly worthwhile wherever take-all is a risk," he advises. "However, it musn't be used as an excuse for less than the best second wheat husbandry."

In the same way as with varieties, the Beeneys find the best responses generally come from take-all seed treatment when the agronomy is spot-on.

By spot-on they mean seedbeds that are well-consolidated without being compacted to give new roots the best start throughout the growing season, and take-all the least encouragement; October rather than September drilling to give the greatest disease carry-over gap from the previous crop; seed rates high enough to compensate for later drilling but not too high to compromise root and shoot strength; and sufficient available soil nitrogen to maintain growth throughout the season.

"Steadily available N is what second wheats really respond to," recommends Brian. "That's why organic matter is so valuable. Especially so in the mild winters we seem to be getting so often these days. It ensures a continued supply of nutrients to support the growing crop throughout the time that soil conditions prevent N fertilisation, making early spring dressing far less critical.

"I'm really not convinced of the value of a T1 strobilurin for take-all control though," he adds. "It could be useful in a high risk season where crops haven't had a specialist seed dressing. But in most cases, I advise doing without it.

"I have no doubt that second wheats will continue to be a valuable element in the rotation for many UK growers," concludes Brian. "Especially those who are able to get the most out of them by getting the most things right."

Brian's Beeney's Second Wheat Recipe