ADM Milling has described the first 2014 harvest of Skyfall, a commercial crop, as ‘very promising’.

The harvest of Skyfall, seed supplier RAGT’s new milling wheat, was delivered to ADM Milling’s Tilbury plant, following which ADM put buyback contracts in place for the 2015 harvest.

The specifications at intake were 12.8% protein, 398 Hagberg and 80.7kg bushel weight. The wheat was from a second wheat crop which yielded 10.5t/ha.

Mark Ringrose ADM Milling trading manager said: “This is the first intake of commercial crop from our ADM Connect ‘Field to Flour’ initiative - it was grown by S&J Padfield and Partners at Codham Hall, Brentwood,” he said. “What is really pleasing about this variety is that it is delivering for both farmer and miller – it has yielded well and is of a good milling spec.

“Given the industry’s interest to see Skyfall move from its current provisional to full milling approval, we were clearly looking to mill the wheat and bake the flour as soon as possible, the results of which have confirmed that both flour analysis and baking performance were similar to other Group 1 varieties that have been baked from the 2014 harvest.” 

The company said it will also be supplied with further commercial crops, from other ADM Connect growers across the UK

Ringrose said: “We are looking for these additional crops to also support the early encouraging baking performance we have seen from Skyfall.” 

Christopher Padfield, Skyfall grower, plans to replace his Solstice crop with Skyfall next year in the first and second wheat slot. He will also continue to grow Gallant.

Padfield said: “Skyfall yielded nearly 7% more than Solstice, which is what the Recommended List says it will do. It achieved the full milling spec, earning us a £27.50 premium.”