Farmers have been invited to "follow the journey" of how crop varieties make it onto the industry's Recommended Lists (RL) at a new trial in west Norfolk.

The AHDB (Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board) will showcase how decisions are made at its winter wheat trials site at Terrington St Clement, near King's Lynn.

Levy payers will be able to follow the entire process, from planting seeds to next year’s harvest, with "ongoing expert site commentary".

The initiative is taking place in response to a recent RL review, in which AHDB levy payers asked for more information about crop variety trials.

The Norfolk trial is one of 31 dedicated UK winter wheat fungicide-treated yield trials sown for harvest 2025.

The site features 35 recommended varieties and 15 candidate varieties, replicated three times across 150 variety plots.

During the 2024–25 growing season, farmers can discover how varieties are selected for sowing, how the plots are identified and prepared, and how the trials are designed, established assessed and harvested. 

The initiative will also describe agronomy choices and how the trial data is used to make decisions for the Recommended Lists, which have provided independent variety information since 1944.

AHDB Recommended Lists manager Paul Gosling said: “We are telling the story of how we grow one of the UK’s most complex winter wheat crops.

"From deciding which varieties to sow to recommendation decisions, we will bring the processes that underpin the RL trial system to life.

"It will give RL users greater confidence in the data and a better understanding of why we take certain approaches."

Tillage operations including subsoiling, tine cultivations and power harrowing were carried out on the site’s silty soils before the trial was planted on October 7.

Mark Bollebakker, a senior AHDB field trials manager, will provide site commentary throughout the growing season, and a dedicated web page on the AHDB's winter wheat trials has been created at ahdb.org.uk/rl-trials.