A crop of Group 2 Extase wheat producing a gross margin nearly £700/ha more than Siskin grown for feed in 2023 provided one trigger for Sentry to significantly expand its area of Group 1 and Group 2 milling wheat for both harvest 2024 and, especially, 2025.

Both crops were managed in the same way for a feed wheat end-market, but because the Extase produced a 12% protein, buyer ADM paid a significant premium, explains Sentry director Alec Smith, leading to the much higher gross margin.

“Harvest 2023 for most farms across the country wasn’t the most profitable, with high inputs and lowish output prices that didn’t compensate for those inputs.

“But the crops that have performed well were those earning £60/t Group 1 premiums.”

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With premiums of about £60/t still available for Group 1 and Group 2 wheat making milling quality, even after defaults for 12% protein, the numbers stack up to grow more quality wheats, he says, although forecasted gross margin differences between milling and feed wheats are closer to £300/ha next year.

Indeed, Sentry has already locked into premiums worth up to £55/t or booked minimum price contracts with a £30/t premium for 8,000t of milling wheat to be planted in autumn 2024.

“If we’re going to invest in slightly higher cost, higher risk crops, we need to secure those margins.”

Milling wheat premiums are being supported by demand, Alec believes.

“The market is telling us it wants wheat for human consumption rather than for feeding animals.

“I also think feed wheats are not so much in demand, as we’ve seen demand destruction from the pig and poultry sectors.”

Three varieties

Three key varieties – Extase, Palladium and Zyatt – will make up the bulk of the eventual 12,000t of milling wheat Sentry is planning to harvest across its 20,000ha total farmed area.

Group 1s and 2s will make up more than 50% of the wheat area, up from 39% in 2024.

“By 2025 harvest, we will have doubled our areas of Group 1 and Group 2s compared with 2023,” Alec says.

“Historically, we’ve mainly grown milling wheat on the farms in the South East, as there wasn’t much of a feed market, but now we will be growing them further afield.

“The higher premiums cover the additional haulage to transport the wheat to the end locations.”

Farms under Sentry control and management range from Lincolnshire and Leicestershire through East Anglia and into the South East in Kent and Surrey, and further west to Dorset.

Sentry pays particularly close attention to setting up crops for success.

Soil type differences are used to vary seed rates – typically with a variance of 30-40% where necessary from the chosen base seed rate.

“There’s no saving in seed, but the fields have been scanned and, on some farms, they vary significantly – maybe up to 20% higher or lower,” Alec explains.

“The more even the crop, the easier it is to manage, which helps with agronomy in the spring, whether that’s fungicides or nitrogen.”

Variable-rate nitrogen

Variable-rate nitrogen applications are also used to continue that theme, using satellite imagery, while Yara N-tester results assessing chlorophyll levels in leaves help tweak rates and improve nitrogen use efficiency.

“Where we used them in trials last year in south Norfolk, we achieved a nitrogen use efficiency of 92%,” Alec says.

Typically, the company is using about 220kg N/ha on the Group 2 varieties, Extase and Palladium – a level that has achieved the 12% protein target consistently combined with the other management over the past couple of seasons.

For Group 1 varieties, a slightly higher nitrogen dose is used, with the additional N applied as a later application to reach the target 13% protein level.

Sentry also uses organic manures, where possible, and adjusts inorganic fertiliser applications as appropriate, Alec adds.

While the newer KWS varieties promise better disease resistance in the future, managing disease in varieties such as Zyatt, and to a lesser extent the more resistant varieties Extase and Palladium, is crucial.

Farm managers for Sentry use a traffic-light system for fungicide applications, designed in conjunction with agronomy firm Agrovista.

“It depends on variety and crop potential,” Alec explains.

For example, this year on crops with high potential, the plan has been to use tebuconazole at T0 followed by either mefentrifluconazole + boscalid at T1 on higher risk septoria varieties or mefentrifluconazole in combination with fluxapyroxad + pyraclostrobin on yellow rust varieties.

At T2, Bayer’s new Iblon fungicide Vimoy (isoflucypram) in combination with fenpicoxamid or bixafen + prothioconazole are the main choices.

Where potential is lower, a lower cost programme involving prothioconazole and folpet at T1 and mefentrifluconazole, fluapyroxad and pyraclostrobin at T2, is used, he says.

Other crops

A similar strategy for producing crops that will attract premium prices is being adopted for other crops where possible.

All spring barley is grown for malting, while Alec is also trying to set up closer relationships with end users of some of the break crops that are starting to replace oilseed rape in the rotation, such as linseed.

“Discussions are at an early stage, but we’ve started talking to end users about, for example, using linseed in rations and how we can supply direct rather than it being imported.

“Hopefully, that will secure both a better price and guaranteed market – there’s nothing worse than growing a crop and not having a market for it.

“There are other crops where supplying a home-grown source could be interesting – for example, canary grass and even sorghum and millet.

“We’re always looking because the one area that is a constant challenge is break crops. We need to find a sustainable break crop to extend our rotations.”

Finding alternative break crops has also led to some areas of legume fallow under Sustainable Farming Incentive being grown for that purpose.

It’s a targeted approach rather than being broad brush, he stresses, while trials are also ongoing with bi-crops.

“This is producing some interesting results, but so far, crop combinations are limited around pulses, which would quickly dominate rotations.

“It’s just another reason to find an alternative broad-leaved break crop,” he concludes.