Limagrain, the fourth largest plant breeder and seeds marketing company in the world, has appointed William Charlton as its UK arable marketing manager.
From a farming background, and holding a degree in microbiology from Sheffield University, Mr Charlton brings a wealth of experience to the position, having held roles within the commercial agriculture team at British Sugar and latterly as campaign manager for Bayer’s combinable fungicide portfolio.
Mr Charlton is delighted to be joining the Limagrain UK team and will be based at the company’s headquarters in Rothwell, Lincolnshire. He believes that as a farmer owned co-operative, along with its unique UK dedicated plant breeding and research teams, Limagrain is best placed of all the plant breeders to recognise and respond to many of the issues facing UK farmers.
“UK Agriculture is going through a revolutionary period, both technically and politically, with regulation and resistance presenting key challenges, and in many cases, stifling the development of new technologies.”
“However, we are not seeing this with plant breeding; plant genetics continue to offer solutions to many of these issues through increased yields, stronger agronomic characteristics and better disease resistance, whilst end-users also benefit from added value, improved quality, productivity and processability – and Limagrain is very much at the forefront of this.”
This leading position is reflected in the breadth of Limagrain’s high yielding and farmer friendly varieties on 2020/2021 AHDB Recommended List – the top six yielding oilseed rape varieties are all bred by Limagrain – the first time any breeder has achieved this accolade.
For the second year running, its soft wheat LG Skyscraper leads the pack of high yielding wheats – the first time a soft wheat has achieved this position. Its winter barley, LG Mountain and spring barley, LG Diablo, also sit well within the mix at the top of the Recommended List.
