Throughout the harvest season, we are updating our handy map with the latest data from the AHDB’s 2024 wheat Recommended List (RL) harvest results.

Use the map below to find the five highest-yielding wheat varieties at your nearest trials site.

See also: Harvest 24: 5 top-yielding winter OSR varieties

Wheat summary

AHDB has published results from 21 fungicide-treated sites of the 27 expected to report (four having been abandoned due to waterlogging). The average yield of control varieties stands at 10.43 t/ha, well below the five-year average of 10.88 t/ha.

For the fungicide-untreated trials, the average yield of the controls is just 6.18 t/ha 2.32 t/ha below the five-year average of 8.50 t/ha, with brown rust and septoria having taken their toll.

Wheat variety selection

The highest yielding varieties in the fungicide-treated trials are those with good disease resistance, with the Group 4 (hard) variety Champion highest yielding on 110%, with the newly recommended  Group 3 variety Bamford and soft Group 4 variety Redwald on 109%.

Group 2 variety Palladium and hard Group 4 variety Insitor are on 108%, with hard Group 4s Graham and Typhoon (107%) and Group 2 Extase (106%) just behind. All these varieties have exceeded their five-year average, some by several percent, reflecting the impact of disease even on the fungicide-treated trials this year.

Hard Group 4 for the East/West Oxford and Group 2 Ultimatum are on 105%, both ahead of their five-year averages.

Group 2 Mayflower is on 104%, well ahead of its five-year average and sits alongside Group 1 Zyatt, which is also having a very good 2024.

Newly recommended hard Group 4 Beowulf is also on 104%, but is 1% below its five-year average.

Popular hard group 4 variety Dawsum has not performed so well in 2024 on 101%, despite its disease rating of 7 for brown rust, with Bairstow also struggling on 98%. Similarly, Costello (93%), Stokes (95%) and Skyscraper (97%) are well below their five-year averages in 2024.  

Other newly recommended varieties are having mixed fortunes. Recommended for the North Group 3 variety Almara is on 99%, one percent above its five-year average, though most Scottish trials are still to report.

Provisional Group 1 Cheer on 95% is just 1% below its five-year average, with soft Group 4 variety Blackstone 2% below its five-year average on 100%.

In terms of quality, results from 2024 are good, with protein having held up, unlike in many commercial situations, with Hagberg falling number and specific weight higher than in 2023 for most varieties.

Untreated trials

The highest yielding variety is Group 2 variety Mayflower at 129% of controls, well ahead of Group 2 variety Extase on 123% and newly recommended Group 3 variety Bamford on 119%.

Next highest yielding on 118% is Group 2 variety Palladium followed by newly recommended for the north Group 3 variety Almara and Group 2 variety Ultimatum on 116%.

• Updated 9 September