The weather conditions in 2008 have been favourable to fungal infection and hence fusarium mycotoxin development. Early season testing by nabim, AIC and ACFM members has shown that overall levels are broadly similar to 2007 but that a number of geographic areas appear to have levels of DON that are higher than indicated by a risk assessment.
When conducting their seller's risk assessment, and taking account of geographic region, farmers in all parts of Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Yorkshire should treat these counties as fully within the high risk region of England and use a score of 4. The overall risk assessment should then be entered on the grain passport in the normal way.
In light of detailed analysis of fusarium mycotoxin risk factors in the 2007 harvest the risk Tool was revised and includes additional factors.
The Tool provides growers with means of entering their own risk scores for factors associated with the risk of fusarium mycotoxin developing on wheat. It now includes a calculated score pre-flowering to give a view of the overall risk before application of a T3 fungicide.
Using the tool, which is an excel spreadsheet, risk scores are entered and an overall risk value obtained. This will provide a guide on the need to test the grain and its suitability for the milling wheat market.
It can be printed out, signed and dated to keep as a record of your risk assessment.
Fusarium mycotoxin risk assessment tool  (477kb)
(Updated 12 September 2008)
HGCA Topic Sheet 102 Managing fusarium mycotoxin risk in wheat intended for human food - harvest 2008 explains the revised risk assessment and Guidelines to minimising the risk of fusarium mycotoxins in cereals describes in detail the factors that contribute to these mycotoxins and more importantly how to reduce the risk of them.
Note
If you do not have Excel installed on your computer, a free viewer can be downloaded from Microsoft by clicking here | 
