The wide sowing season of Blackstone, a Group 4 soft wheat, means it can be drilled from September 1 right through to the following February, easing the burden on Scottish growers according to Elsoms’ Head of Agricultural Sales Toby Reich.

Toby said: “New to the recommend list (RL) for 2024/25 with an overall treated yield of 103%, Blackstone provides growers with the option of a high yielding feed wheat that could also go into distilling or for export.

“Offering genetic diversity, Blackstone is a Panacea and Tempo cross and, whilst the benefit of that may not be immediately obvious to some growers, when you look further back into its parent lines you see that it’s related to outstanding former wheat varieties such as Riband, Consort and Claire - all of which dominated the UK winter wheat market in the 1990’s.

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“Blackstone scores a 9 against yellow rust, a 6.2 for Septoria and 6 on brown rust and, with a solid disease resistance profile that also includes orange wheat blossom midge resistance, it’s already gaining a reputation for being agronomically easy to manage.

"It’s trait of producing a lot of stiff straw will make it a popular choice on many mixed farms” he concludes.

Endorsing Toby’s summary on Blackstone, Douglas Gordon, managing director of Alexander Harley Seeds (Milnathort) Limited, is also very positive about the variety’s future and sees its long, flexible drilling window as a potential game changer for many northern and Scottish growers.

He adds: "Having first seen Blackstone in 2022, I was impressed with both its high treated yield score in Scottish trials and its robust disease package.

“With many winter wheat growers in both southern and western Scotland often unable to get a crop in the ground during the winter months, the appeal of a variety able to be sown from September to February is an important trait that should make Blackstone of serious interest to many Scottish growers either currently relying solely on lower yielding spring wheats – or larger acreage winter wheat growers who want to spread their harvest window.

“With positive potential for the distilling market, consistently high yields, plus its suitability for mixed farms based on an ability to produce a lot of very stiff straw for cattle, I believe it has the potential to attract serious interest in Scotland” he confirms.

Alexander Harley Seeds, located at the centre of Scotland specialises in the production and processing of quality certified seed.