County Armagh winner for UFU winter wheat competition

Winners Hunniford Farms pictured (L-R) Richard Junior, Richard and Victor Hunniford from North East Armagh group.

The Ulster Farmers’ Union along with competition sponsor Syngenta, have crowned Hunniford Farms’ Richard, Victor and Richard Jr Hunniford from the North East Armagh group, first place in the winter wheat category this year.

A very close second place was awarded to Robert Gray of the UFU Ards group, with Michael McConville from the UFU Armagh Down group taking a respectable third place.

The county winners were:

• Antrim: Samuel and Alan Brennan, Larne group
• Armagh: Hunniford Farms: Richard, Victor and Richard Jr Hunniford, North East Armagh group
• Down: Robert Gray, Ards group
• Londonderry: George Alcorn, North West Derry group
• Tyrone: Caledon Estate, South Tyrone group

Northern Ireland final judge Paul Cottney said, “Congratulations to Hunniford Farms and to all those who entered the competition this year. The uniformity amongst all the fields judged was impressive with all having excellent yield potential despite such a challenging year due to weather. Lodging pressure this year is low which will help, particularly if harvest is delayed. The marks awarded between all entrants were very close whereby the differences in points awarded was down to disease control and green leaf area remaining to prolong grain fill to maximise yield potential. This could have been due to late fungicide timings caused by weather, but I attribute this more to variety. Notable differences between fields were Septoria tritici disease pressure which was evident by the presence of black spots on the leaves called pycnidia. As a result, crops with low levels of infection had greater green leaf area with bolder grains and better able to fulfil their potential yield. The crops scoring the highest for disease control were of similar variety amongst entrants. All the fields judged demonstrate the pride and careful consideration each grower implements to produce these excellent crops of wheat.”

UFU deputy president John McLenaghan said, “I would like thank Syngenta, our sponsors, for their ongoing support and promotion of our cereal competitions. We also have to thank the numerous UFU members who participated in this year’s winter wheat competition, as well as the competition judges and group managers who co-ordinate the local competitions.”

The awards for the winter barley, oats, winter wheat and spring barley cereal competition categories will be officially presented at the 2024 UFU and sponsors cereals competition awards and lunch planned for later this year.