United Kingdom
September 23, 2025
The exceptionally dry season proved challenging for many crops this harvest, and although some yields did suffer, others fared much better, with some stand-out performers, as the LG Legends explain.
The LG Legends are a group of farmers from around the UK, working with diverse situations on-farm. They share their honest and practical on-farm experiences, from variety selection and husbandry, to harvest results and everything in between.
LG Typhoon tops the charts
Ryan McCormack
In Suffolk, LG Typhoon was the star performer at Dennington Hall Farms, where a 100 ha block averaged 10.1 t/ha, with good grain quality and plenty of high quality straw, says farm manager, Ryan McCormack.
“It was the first of the wheats to be harvested, starting on 14 July, and gave the highest average yield out of all wheat varieties we grew last season; one small field achieved 11.7 t/ha, which was a good result given the dry conditions.”
All LG Typhoon was grown as a first wheat after beans, with minimal surface cultivations ahead of drilling in the first week of October – slightly later than he would normally sow the variety.
Another strong performer was LG Beowulf, which was coming in at over 10 t/ha, until 60mm of rain in the third week of July interrupted harvest for 10 days, Ryan says. “That rain delay seemed to knock the specific weight by 7-8%, and had a similar impact on yield. Despite that, it still did well overall, and, like the LG Typhoon, stayed pretty clean.
“We didn’t see any yellow rust, although to be fair, it was quite a low disease pressure season. We will be growing more LG Typhoon and LG Beowulf next year, combatting any yellow rust risk by applying tebuconazole at T0 to bolster disease resistance.”
LG Redwald is another wheat variety the farm will grow again this autumn, as the extra vigour ideally suits later sowing after sugar beet, he notes.
After achieving an impressive 10.75 t/ha this harvest, winter barley variety LG Caravelle is another that will be grown again in 2025/26, along with LG Capitol, 100 ha of LG Avenger oilseed rape, and the new candidate hard wheat, LG Defiance. “We saw LG Defiance in trials and really liked how it looked, so will give it a try this autumn as a first wheat after oilseed rape.”
OSR is stand-out performer
Rob Atkin
For Staffordshire grower, Rob Atkin, oilseed rape has been the “crop of the year” on the 380 ha mixed family farm.
His 14 ha of LG Armada yielded around 5 t/ha (2 t/acre), well above the farm average of nearer 4.2 t/ha (1.7 t/acre), and with relatively high oil content.
“For us, it was one of the best years for growing oilseed rape for a long time.”
The two fields both followed winter barley; one drilled on 5th August, the other on the 25th. “The later-sown field did struggle a bit with pigeon damage last autumn, but other than that, there wasn’t a lot to choose between them. They established quickly and looked well all through winter, and into spring/summer,” he notes.
Rob has increased his oilseed rape area to 60 ha for 2025/26, split 50:50 between LG Armada and the cabbage stem flea beetle-resilient variety, LG Avenger. “Although CSFB pressure was very low last year, and we haven’t seen much activity so far this year, it can be an issue here, so it’s another tool to help reduce risk.”
On the cereals front, Rob acknowledges dry weather did reduce the farm’s average wheat yield by around 2.5 t/ha across all fields and varieties, although there were stronger performers within this, in a very challenging season.
“LG Rebellion is one variety that’s really surprised me in how well it’s done considering the year. We tried a small 5 ha area for the first time, which despite being drilled late in unfavourable conditions after maize, still did really well, yielding 7.4 t/ha (3 t/acre). There was a lot of rain soon after drilling, but it survived really well, with nice even establishment, and got going quickly in the spring. It also stayed clean and produced a decent amount of straw.”
A similar trial area of LG Beowulf did equally well, coming in just shy of the farm’s highest average yield, at 8.4 t/ha (3.4 t/acre), with good specific weight (77 kg/hl), protein (12.3%) and Hagberg (283).
Given this strong performance, he plans to grow both varieties on a larger scale this coming season, increasing the total area to 40-50 ha.
Overcoming late-sowing challenges
Trialling new varieties in a season as challenging and stressful as 2024/25 was never going to be ideal, but Leicestershire farmer Will Oliver says there were still some interesting differences, which will help shape future decisions.
A small area of three LG varieties was trialled on the 650 ha arable, grassland and indoor poultry farm last season, including LG Beowulf, LG Rebellion, and LG Redwald (500 kg of seed for each).
Will Oliver
“They were all fairly late sown, direct drilled after maize in November, onto heavy, high magnesium content clay soil, so it certainly wasn’t ideal conditions. There were challenges at every end of the growing season; crops were drilled in the wet, and then when we needed rain, there wasn’t any.”
As a consequence, the average yield across all varieties and total wheat area of 300 ha was down 1.4 t/ha on the farm’s five-year average of 8.5 t/ha, with LG Redwald and LG Rebellion performing best out of the LG trial varieties, Will says.
He was particularly impressed by the establishment and growth of the LG Rebellion through last autumn and into spring, as well as its final specific weight, which came in at 78 kg/hl.
“We will probably grow LG Rebellion again on a larger scale this autumn, alongside KWS Vibe, and Champion; all of which will be for seed.
“It’s been a hard year to judge varieties on yield performance alone, so I’m basing my decisions on how varieties established and looked through the season. We want a variety that can establish in late-drilling, more challenging situations, and I felt the LG Rebellion emerged well and looked better than some others we trialled.”
The wheat area is likely to be down to nearer 200 ha this autumn though, as after a six-year hiatus, oilseed rape is back into the rotation. Some 130 ha of LG Avenger was direct drilled after wheat in late August, just ahead of forecast rain.
“We’ve not grown oilseed rape for six years, but have decided to give it another go,” Will notes.
Other cropping includes 200 ha of maize, mainly LG Prospect and LG30.179, drilled in early April. “We normally combine our maize, but because of the forage shortage this year, we took the decision to sell it as a standing crop. Everything looks good, and it sold well at auction. Although it’s been a challenging year for maize, I’d say it’s been our stand-out crop.”
Will likes LG Prospect and LG30.179, and plans to grow both varieties again next year. “I like the early maturity, which really helps us get the following wheat crop in. They also have good standing power, good cob size, and they also tend to combine easier than some other varieties.”
Defying a tough season
Luke Palmer
The winter barley variety LG Capitol was one of the highlights from a challenging season for Cambridgeshire grower, Luke Palmer.
Some 100 ha (250 acres) was grown for seed, on a range of different soil types, with yields averaging 9.1 t/ha across the board, and excellent grain quality.
“That’s a pretty good result considering the season, and the fact that none of it was drilled particularly early last autumn. Most of the LG Capitol followed either sugar beet, potatoes, or maize, so was sown anywhere between the 1st October and 20th November. It got up and grew away really well though.”
All straw was baled, although he admits straw yields were down on normal, due to the exceptionally dry spring and summer.
Mr Palmer plans to grow a similar area of LG Capitol again this coming season.
“It’s an excellent variety that I’m really pleased with. It has a high specific weight, strong disease profile, and seems to yield well on our land.”
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