Elsoms Seeds add early maturing Batsman and Bowler to linseed portfolio

Elsoms Seeds added early maturing Batsman and Bowler to linseed portfolio and widened the choice for growers looking for an early maturing crop, with the HGCA trial results for 2013 being released recently. Elsoms work closely with Dutch breeder van de Bilt and have produced a string of successful and popular varieties such as current market favourite Brighton. “We are delighted with the results from the 2013 harvest,” commented Elsoms Sales Manager, Adrian Hayler. “Brighton continues to demonstrate consistent & reliable early maturity and high performance, Batsman has combined outstanding yield with very early maturity, whilst Bowler’s very short and early maturing characteristics make it an ideal choice for growers looking for a variety that combines ease of harvesting with good yield,” added Adrian.

Van de Bilt’s impressive Linseed plant breeding programme was developed as a consequence of its desire to retain its pre-eminent position in the global flax business. “In order to remain competitive in rapidly developing markets such as China, it is vital that we continue to develop better flax varieties and the substantial on-going investment in our plant breeding team has enabled us to also create a bespoke Linseed breeding programme with near market selection and variety development being carried out by Elsoms in the UK,” commented van de Bilt CEO, Eugenie van de Bilt. “ Whereas Flax is grown in Northern France and the low countries the major market for Linseed production is the UK, with the crop then being exported across Europe” Eugenie explained.

Raimon Laan, van de Bilt linseed breeder was excited by the results. “Batsman is very early, similar to varieties such as Abacus, but provides growers with a substantial increase in yield,” he said. “Bowler is an interesting variety as it has a good yield compared to traditional early varieties but as well as being early it is also short with a low stem fibre content and good capsule height uniformity, all of which make it easier to harvest,” continued Raimon. “I am very impressed with Brighton’s ability to produce high yields for farmers’, year in year out,” said Raimon. “The last few years have seen a real variation in growing and harvesting conditions yet Brighton has delivered excellent results both in trials and more importantly on farm and it is no surprise that it remains the first choice for the majority of growers,” he concluded.