A new variety of buckwheat called Manisoba was adopted by growers for The Birkett Mills in 2000. After many years of testing in experiment Station trials an on commercial farms, it was consistently superior to the previous variety, Manor.
This season turned out to be a bad one for starting a new variety. A wet summer caused severe stand lossed at planting, and poor seed fill in the weeks before harvest. Throughout the region buckwheat yields and test weights were miserable. But it is not the fault of the new variety. In a side-by side replicated trial of Manor and Manisoba, the new variety was still superior. Manisoba yielded 591 gross pounds per acre, vs. 573 for Manor. As bad as the year was, it would have been worse with Manor.
The plans for 2001 are to continue raising Manisoba. Variety trials continue to determine whether it would benefit farmers to adopt an even newer variety, Koto, that was developed to perform well in the Northeast.