Variety Assessment Tables released by Premium Crops Premium Crops, a leading supplier of premium and alternative seeds, has announced the launch of its new Variety Assessment Tables to support growers considering alternative spring and autumn break crop options.

The tables were announced at CropTec in November to coincide with the launch of the AHDB Recommended Lists. Premium Crops has also released new Spring and Winter Grower Contracts to support growers considering alternative spring and autumn break crop options. Alternative crops can help farmers seeking to extend rotations, or those needing to replace a single crop in a rotation. With different nutrient requirements and impacts on the soil, farmers can benefit from extended rotations, as well as creating a break from the usual pesta and diseases, plus added value crop prices (guaranteed at the time of seed purchase), ongoing agronomic support and no sacrifice of either profits or sustainable credentials.

The Variety Assessment Tables can be accessed and downloaded from www.premiumcrops.com/variety-trials. Variety Assessment Tables are available for HEAR (high erucic acid rapeseed) and HOLL (high oleic low linoleic) OSR (oilseed rape), plus winter and spring linseed. Key varieties in the Premium Crops portfolio are represented alongside commercial controls to enable growers to cross-compare data with the new AHDB Recommended and Descriptive Lists.

Nigel Padbury, Seeds and Marketing Manager, says: “With farmers dealing with the ongoing impact of climate change and the reductions in subsidies, every penny counts. Introducing alternative crops into the rotation can help with this while also benefiting soil health. Many alternative crops come with a premium selling price, so there is a benefit to the bottom line as well as the land that our customers are farming.

“We believe that our network of ‘alternative crop’ trial sites around the country is truly unique among speciality arable suppliers. In addition to yield, data is collected on a range of important crop characteristics such as maturity, height, vigour and grain quality. We’ve had some truly incredible results from our variety trials and by enabling farmers to match variety characteristics to their particular farm conditions, the data means that our growers can optimise the returns they achieve from the contracts offered by Premium Crops.”

“With additional varieties entering the trials every year, the options for those seeking to extend their rotations continue to increase.”

Premium Crops is committed to enhancing crop performance through thorough, science-based research. For more than 20 years, they have invested in research and development into novel crop species and new varieties of crops to maximise returns for our growers. These trials all work towards three essential objectives: to test and compare the performance of new candidates and existing commercial varieties, assess agronomic performance to inform crop management and provide clear data for customers to understand how those varieties perform under UK climate conditions.