The onset of warm dry spring weather has seen a flurry of fodder beet orders resulting in UK and European seed stocks tightening due to the absence of some key varieties from the market this spring.
With many farmers in the north still to place their orders Elsoms have worked with specialist French Fodder Beet Breeder, Florimond Desprez, to secure limited stocks of Starmon (pictured) to ensure that growers can still select a high performance variety, proven under UK conditions.
“Starmon is a very similar variety to Cagnotte, which we have successfully introduced to the UK over the last two years,” says Elsoms Adrian Hayler. In the latest official French trials, compared to market stalwart Jamon, Starmon had a lower fresh beet yield but it’s dry matter content was approx. 1.5% points higher resulting in Starmon and Jamon having similar dry matter yields,” he commented. Unlike a number of European varieties, Starmon has a successful history of being grown in the UK and as with Cagnotte, Starmon is resistant to rhizomania,” Adrian concluded
