UK: Four spring barley varieties make up majority of seed sales in England

Just four spring barley varieties make up the majority of seed sales in England, despite there being many more choices on the AHDB Recommended List, the Farmers’ Weekly reported on January 2.

The testing system for the brewing and distilling use of spring barley varieties is out of kilter with the recommendation process, meaning that the most recent variety introductions are often of least interest to growers.

“New varieties with malting potential are added to the list before they undergo testing by the Maltsters’ Association of Great Britain (MAGB) for their suitability, so they tend to come in under the radar,” explains Niab cereals specialist Clare Leaman.

“It means that growers don’t move onto new ones until they’ve been approved and they can be sure of their place in the market.”

The latest list for 2024/25 has been reorganised, so that fully approved varieties are grouped separately to those that are provisionally approved or about to undergo evaluation.

“That’s a good development,” she notes. “It makes things clearer and will help growers get more from the information.”

Approval takes a number of years, with varieties given provisional approval before becoming fully approved – creating a time lag with new introductions, but sending clear signals about end user requirements.

Some varieties fall foul of the system or are withdrawn. Three of last year’s six newcomers with malting potential, Florence, Sun King and Curtis, are no longer being tested for their suitability.

The MAGB categories include brewing, distilling and special use – the latter being created for niche varieties that are important for certain sectors.

Where approvals of existing varieties have been updated in their favour, market success then partly depends on seed supply, adds Clare.

At present, almost 50% of the market is Laureate, which is a dual-purpose type suitable for both brewing and malt distilling.

Recommended in 2016, it has been fully approved since 2017, and has performed well on farms in that time.

“Already dominant, Laureate had a very good year in 2023,” she continues. “The differences between the recommended varieties were already very small in terms of yield, so Laureate has closed the gap.”

It also has the highest untreated yield figure on the list.

Agronomically, Laureate is an all-rounder, with good resistance to brackling and no weaknesses in terms of disease. It commands almost 50% of the market and is expected to remain the frontrunner.

Behind Laureate comes Skyway, with approximately 10% of the market, followed by Diablo and Planet, both of which are around 9-10% of seed sales.

“Skyway is certainly making headway,” continues Clare. “It’s a very high-yielding variety for brewing use and was upgraded to fully approved earlier this year.

“It’s a good option and seems to be finding a place as an alternative to Planet, which has been a very popular choice for some time.”

Dual purpose

Diablo is another dual-purpose spring barley, behind Laureate on yield and slightly later to mature.

With good disease, lodging and brackling resistance ratings, it has helped to meet the demand for dual-purpose varieties that the industry has pushed for.

Planet – the oldest of the current spring barleys for malting – is fully approved for brewing only.

“This is a very familiar variety which has been popular for all the right reasons,” confirms Clare. “Agronomically it’s a good package, but there are some higher yielding variety options now.”

Feed varieties

Turning to the feed varieties, she highlights that Hurler is the first in this category to offer a higher yield than the malting choices.

“Recommended last year, it’s a decent variety with high yields and short, stiff straw.”

Scotland

The situation in Scotland is similar, but with some variety niches due to the markets.

Again, the dual-purpose varieties Laureate and Diablo are popular, but Sassy and Firefoxx come into the picture for malt distilling and Fairing for grain distilling.

Together, these account for nearly all of the Scottish malting intake – with growers and maltsters keeping an eye on those coming through the system.

Varieties added for 2024/25

Six new varieties were recommended at the end of November 2023 – three for brewing only, two for brewing and malt distilling and one for malt distilling only – and will now go into the Malting Barley Committee testing system.

Of the brewing-only choices, Bounty from Agrovista is ahead on yield on 105%, but its place on the Recommended List is conditional on it being added to the GB and NI variety lists.

The other potential brewing newcomers are NOS Gambit from Senova, and Aquarius from Limagrain, both of which have a yield of 103%, along with good disease resistance and lodging scores.

The new dual-purpose varieties are Belter from Agrii and Olsen from Limagrain, which take yields on compared with the industry standards and have given their best results in the east.

NOS Munro from Senova is for malt distilling only and has given its highest yields in the north.

03 January, 2024