UK: New spring malting barley variety produces high yields
A new spring malting barley variety has helped a Norfolk farm push yields to an all-time high for the crop.
Targeted at brewing, Sanette from Syngenta is already noted for its high yield in trial plots. But its status as a new variety means there there was only limited data on its on-farm performance prior to the 2013 harvest, Angliafarmer.co.uk reported on March 6.
After achieving 210 tonnes from Sanette grown for seed off 24 hectares from the 2013 harvest – equivalent to a hefty 8.75 t/ha – Norfolk grower Fred Case says he has never seen spring barley yield so high on the farm.
Spring barley has been grown for as long as Mr Case can remember on light to medium sandy loam at CF Case & Co, Harpley, near King’s Lynn. About 135 ha is currently planted per season – some for malting and some for seed for Saxon Agriculture, so the business has lots of experience.
“Two years previously we had nearly 7.4 t/ha out of the crop,” explains Mr Case. “But I’ve never done 8.75 t/ha. It was the first year we’ve grown Sanette. It was more than 2 t/ha over anything else I grew.”
Admittedly, he says Sanette was grown on good soil. But on similar land – albeit north-facing rather than south-facing where the Sanette was grown – a high-yielding feed variety only managed 6.5 t/ha, he notes. Elsewhere on the farm, he says another new malting variety also yielded 6.5 t/ha.
“I’m growing Sanette again for seed this season. What I want to see is how it grows on other fields. If I get the yield difference I got last season, I would grow it for malting. It looked fairly good all year. Everything went in at the ordinary time. There was nothing unusual about it.”
As an experienced seed grower, Mr Case recognises the importance of producing seed of varieties the market will want. “There’s no point in growing a variety if you’re not going to be able to sell it. There’s been seed production on the farm for 40-50 years.
“If it’s a better malting year, I will grow for that market. But last year there was a lot of grain for malting, so I grew for seed.”
According to seed director for Saxon Agriculture, John Shepherd, the high yield of Sanette could be useful to help growers maintain spring barley profitability in a year when the malting premium is lower.
“With malting premiums currently under pressure, yield becomes even more important,” says Mr Shepherd. “It’s the other way of increasing gross margin. We evaluate varieties from an early stage. We’ve had quite a bit of interest in Sanette.”
Looking forward, Mark Britton of Syngenta has high hopes that Sanette will become a leading spring barley – following in the footsteps of successful brewing varieties such as NFC Tipple, Quench and Propino.
“Although Sanette is new, it already has Provisional 1 Approval for brewing by The Institute of Brewing and Distilling for harvest 2014. When you add in its high yield too, we’re confident it’s going to be one of the next big things in spring barley for beer-making.”
12 March, 2014
