TRIALS at Southern Farming Systems’ Westmere site in south-west Victoria are showing up a number of promising wheat varieties as the industry continues to try and push for widespread commercial yields of nine tonnes a hectare in high rainfall zones (HRZs).
SFS chief executive Jon Midwood previewed a number of new wheat lines, including some recently released and some set to hit the market in coming years at the organisation’s annual Agri-Focus event last week.
Among the varieties included the long season Seed Force variety Adagio, a red feed wheat in Australia, although it is used for bread making in western Europe, where it was originally bred.
The winter wheat has been designed for long season HRZ environments and can be planted any time from late summer onwards.
Tim Brown, Seed Force, said although it could be planted as early as late summer, unlike some long season lines it was flexible enough to be planted within traditional planting timeframes.
Mr Midwood was excited by the potential of the Seed Force variety Accroc, released this year.
Accroc is another winter wheat based on French ancestry, which can also be planted at conventional autumn sowing times.
Mr Midwood said the variety had showed exceptional yields in SFS trials so far.
“It went at around 123 per cent of the site average in National Variety Trials last year,” he said.
Last year he said it had stood up well, with no issues with lodging in spite of many other varieties falling over.
The variety is not only suited to southern Victoria, but also through parts of colder, wetter areas in NSW such as the upper South West Slopes.
Manning was another line in the trials.
It is a super long season white feed wheat distributed by Grain Search.
The strong vernalisation requirement means farmers can plant early but do not have to worry about it going reproductive when frost is still a threat.
Mr Midwood said it could be a good option for farmers looking for a dual purpose wheat they could graze.
Also featured in the trials were district mainstays such as Revenue and Beaufort, which Mr Midwood said continued to stack up well in comparison to newer varieties.