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Background

Following the fertiliser crisis, where costs spiralled out of control, growers were forced to make difficult decisions about the amount of nitrogen fertiliser they could afford to apply to crops.

Food supply chains are facing rapidly increasing demands on sustainability and direction from government, policy and consumers is not always aligned.

The demand for breadmaking wheat is growing, but pressure on arable land use is also increasing.

Extreme weather events can also have a large impact on protein quantity, quality and functionality.

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Protein requirement

The sector is committed to 13% protein content in breadmaking wheat for a number of reasons.

• Consumer expectations demand a particular type of loaf, which in turn means the baker requires specific flour.
• Sufficient high-quality gluten is required to hold the bread together.
• Gluten protein is the key driver of flour functionality and baking, which drives the grain specifications demanded of the grower.
• Bakers know the minimum protein they need, from which varieties, to make a consistent loaf of bread.
• Combined with varietal tests conducted ahead of harvest, the protein content itself is a proxy for functionality.
• While millers would prefer to buy on functionality itself, this is currently not possible to test effectively at intake.

It is very difficult to lower protein requirements.

• If the standard protein specification for UK breadmaking wheat were hypothetically lowered from 13% to 12% it would leave no margin for error for further fallbacks.
• Imports of high-protein breadmaking wheat would increase to maintain flour functionality.
• The premium would reduce to account for the elevated costs of importing more high-protein wheat.

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NFU action

»Ê¼Ò»ªÈËbrought together industry colleagues for a wheat protein roundtable.

• Discussion focused on how the combinable crops sector can meet sustainability requirements in the face of increasing environmental demands, including reductions in nitrogen fertiliser use and its associated carbon footprint.
• This challenge has been brought into sharper focus by the recent volatility of nitrogen prices.
• Costs spiralled out of control after the combined effects of a gas price increase and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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Solutions

Plant breeders are heavily invested in developing new varieties.

• The focus is on developing more sustainable varieties which sit above the grain protein deviation line.
• Varieties with improved nitrogen use efficiency are already in development
• There is research in precision breeding which indicates promising opportunities for improved nitrogen use efficiency.

The most effective boost to grain protein levels is shown to have come from late applications of nitrogen fertiliser at the milky-ripe stage of grain fill.

• Foliar urea has been shown to deliver a greater increase in grain protein content than ammonium nitrate.
• Assessing the nitrogen status of a crop accurately is often challenging.
• Growers should use the wheat ears rather than the whole plant material to conduct the assessment.

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Get the detail

Read our deep dive from NFU senior combinable crops policy specialist Luke Cox where he outlines the challenges and the potential solutions which lie ahead, and what action the NFU is taking.