A SURVEY of arable growers has suggested that a herbicide tolerant variety could take up to 15% of the 2017 oilseed rape area in the UK.

Views on the value of Clearfield herbicide tolerant technology have been sought from farmers and agronomists in two surveys conducted by BASF. “According to 47 independent agronomists interviewed, 11% of the rape area harvested in 2016 was sown to Clearfield varieties and that they expect the area to increase to 15% for harvest 2017,” said BASF's Matthew Goodson.

More than a third of agronomists confirmed they would be recommending Clearfield for harvest 2017, with a further 21% saying they will 'probably' recommend it.

In a farmer survey, 64 growers were questioned, confirming that 14% of the seed for this year’s planting will be Clearfield varieties.

The farm results also suggested that hybrids could make up 72% of the rape area to be sown this autumn, including the 14% sown to Clearfield, 11% to HOLL varieties and 7% to HEAR varieties.

Farmers said that they had ordered seed by the end of July. The survey indicated that the most popular rape varieties would be Elgar (27% of mentions), DK Extrovert (14%) which was the most widely grown variety last year, HEAR varieties Eraton (11% of respondents), Palmedor (also HEAR at 11%) and Campus (5%).

Both surveys also suggested that the widely predicted decrease in rape area may not be the case.

* Clearfield technology is based on conventional plant breeding to create varieties tolerant to Clearfield herbicides – Cleranda (imazamox and metazachlor) and Cleravo (imazamox and quinmerac). This makes them a useful management tool if charlock and runch have been problem weeds.