Competition Results

Top Cereal Grower for the Second Year Running

Buchan grower, Greg Davidson-Gall, Newton of Kinmundy, Mintlaw, Aberdeenshire, has won the Royal Northern Agricultural Society’s annual cereals competition for the second year running with a field of Robigus winter wheat.

The competition, sponsored by UAP, attracted a record entry of 69 crops on 30 farms. Preliminary judging was carried out by UAP’s George Farquhar, a director of the RNAS, with the final judging completed earlier this week by Scott Milne of Bayer Crop Science, who was full of praise for the high standard of crops in the competition.

“I have travelled the length and breadth of the UK and Ireland over the past two weeks and can safely say that there is no other area with the same standard and quality of crops as there is in the North-east of Scotland,” said Mr Milne.

“The concept of growing crops is all about attention to detail and I have seen that in abundance in the RNAS crop competition. It was a pleasure to judge them.”

The winning crop was treated in the same way as last year’s winning crop with an autumn spray to keep weeds at bay followed by a four-spray fungicide programme through the spring to keep the crop free of disease.

“This year’s winning crop is looking good but we need sunshine now for it to ripen,” said Mr Davidson-Gall. “I don’t expect the yield to be as high as last year.”

Mr Davidson-Gall was also placed second for winter wheat, again with Robigus, with the reserve overall award going to a blend of Sequel/Camion winter barley entered by J and E Forrester, Aldie Mains, Cruden Bay.

The award for the best malting barley crop was won by Charles McCombie, Auchincrieve, Knock, Huntly, with Cocktail and the young farmers’ award went to Alison Mackie, Whiteside, Tullynessle, Alford, with winter wheat.

Mr Milne was also impressed with a blend of winter wheat and winter barley being grown for the first time this year by Ian Davidson, Mosside, Oldmeldrum, following a successful small-scale trial last year. This novel blend was ruled inadmissible for the competition but the judge was asked to inspect it and compare it with straight crops of wheat and barley in the competition.

All the normal criteria were applied, including weeds, disease, uniformity and consistency. With a head count of 616 per square metre, the crop is on target to produce a yield of 12 tonnes per hectare.

Mr Milne said it was good to see the pioneering spirit amongst North-east growers.

“This is an interesting concept for farmers who can utilise grain on their own farm,” said Mr Milne. “It is a short, stiff-strawed crop with a high plant population and very suitable for farmers who can create a market for the end product.”

RNAS Growing Crop Competition 2007

Final Results