Local seedsmen Nick Wallace and Douglas Bonn are enjoying a double celebration this week after marking a combined 50 years in the trade and their parent company’s gold innovation award from the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society (RHASS).
Gold awards are presented to previous silver award winners for continuous outstanding merit and this year Limagrain’s winter wheat breeding programme was recognised for innovative methods such as advanced trials design and molecular biology.
RHASS said the company’s breeding teams had produced varieties for growers with enhanced agronomical characteristics and market opportunities and had maintained their reputation for producing successful varieties for Scotland.
Successful varieties include high yielding soft wheats, LG Spotlight and LG Skyscraper which is currently at the top of the AHDB’s recommended list for 2020-21 with a UK yield of 105%. LG Spotlight sits just below with a UK yield of 103%.
Limagrain’s senior wheat breeder, Ed Flatman, said: “Genetics is at the core of our business and behind this success is research and development.
“UK agriculture faces challenges and genetics have an important role to play in mitigating many of these challenges.”
nnicolson@thecourier.co.uk
