Tom Gore farms 1600 ha with 900 ha of Arable in Kent, near Rochester, on a diverse range of generally medium loam soil type, including chalk, gravel and sand. The farm receives an average of 500ml of rainfall per year. Tom focuses on growing group 1 milling varieties, and all the grain is delivered locally to the Tilbury Mill. Across the farmed area, wheat yields range from 7-10T/ha with 2025 crops averaging 8.4T/ha across the board.
Tom Gore drilled ARLINGTON, DSV UK’s latest addition to its high-quality milling wheat portfolio, with a Vadestad Top Down and Rapid drill on the 27th of September 2025, into some relatively good conditions. The crop was drilled at 220 seeds/m2. The previous crop before ARLINGTON was planted was oilseed rape. Tom also noted, “we have struggled with rye grass in the past and used crops like spring linseed and spring wheat to help manage and reduce the burden quite affectively’
When asked why he chose to grow ARLINGTON, Tom said “we’ve always been early adopters of new varieties. ARLINGTON looked promising, it carries higher yield than its Gp1 counterparts and the grain quality package looks good on the list.”
Furthermore, Tom said, “We decided to grow Arlington because we are looking for a step on from SKYFALL, we have always got on well with SKYFALL historically, but we are looking for something with improved yields and better agronomic characteristics.”
His agronomist Nick Peters added, “on paper, ARLINGTON’s agronomics looks great. It looks like a natural SKYFALL replacement. Good yellow rust and a good second wheat that can be drilled early or very late giving extreme flex in the drilling programme.”
First impressions of ARLINGTON in the field have been positive. “As you can see it’s nice and clean, very forward due to September drilling but looks superb, despite its early drilling it’s cleaner than the other varieties we’re growing on the farm next door,” explains Nick.
Tom adds, “and at the moment disease is pretty much non-existent so it’s quite an exciting variety for us going forward.” Although it is still early on, ARLINGTON is shaping up as an excellent variety and will be exciting to watch and we look forward to seeing how it yields come harvest time.
Alongside ARLINGTON, Tom is also growing other DSV varieties such as LOXTON which looks fantastic too as this stage. Which both Nick and Tom say is showing promise. Tom only grows group 1 wheat varieties and stresses that “yield and protein are the most important” aspects he looks for in a variety. He adds, “if it doesn’t meet milling spec, it’s useless to us.” Nick’s priorities when selecting a group 1 wheat variety are, “protein, Hagberg, yield, and standing ability—those are the big ones.”