16 January 2024, UK: As we experience increasingly volatile climatic and market conditions, having a dependable crop is more important than ever. Luckily spring barley variety choice is one factor within our control and selecting those with a proven track record of on-farm performance is the safest bet.
LAUREATE – the top pick of the approved malting varieties
LAUREATE first joined the AHDB Recommended List back in 2016 but continues to be the most popular spring barley grown across the UK and the most popular variety purchased by maltsters.
As the highest-yielding spring barley variety with Full MBC malting approval for both brewing and malt distilling uses on the AHDB Recommended List, it is easy to see why LAUREATE continues to be so popular.
The increased flexibility it can offer to growers by allowing access to either the brewing or malt distilling markets is something that cannot be ignored.
Stable yield performance
Consistency and dependability have been key components of LAUREATE’s success – both in terms of on-farm performance and end-user quality.
An historical view of treated yield performance shows that LAUREATE has excellent yield consistency. Since first entering AHDB Recommended List trials, LAUREATE has maintained a high level of performance despite some of the key competition of a similar age declining in more recent years.
Source: AHDB Harvest results (archive) 2017-2023
LAUREATE has also maintained a strong, consistent, untreated yield performance level since first being sown in Recommended list trials in 2015. This is very much underpinned by its robust disease profile with current AHDB ratings including a 9 for mildew, 5 for brown rust and a 7 for Rhynchosporium.
Unrivalled quality
From an end-user perspective, LAUREATE is very much the variety of choice, with contracts widely available for 2023. Maltsters now purchase more LAUREATE than any other variety across the UK, making up 48% of purchases from the harvest 2022 crop demonstrating the wide acceptance of the variety.
England total tonnes
Scotland total tonnes
As % of total combined type
LAUREATE
407,334
693,939
59.3%
RGT Planet
271,007
173
14.6%
LG Diablo
36,040
185,179
11.9%
KWS Sassy
0
147,244
7.9%
Fairing
489
21,162
1.2%
Others
59,071
35,173
5.1%
Source: MAGB malting spring barley purchases by region from 2022 harvest crop
Get ready for SY TENNYSON!!
With the dual-purpose spring malting variety LAUREATE now in an unrivalled No. 1 position across the UK, attention begins to turn to what new variety options are around the corner.
Since joining the AHDB Recommended list in autumn 2022, the dual-purpose spring malting barley variety SY TENNYSON has created significant interest from across the malting industry as the next obvious potential dual-purpose variety to partner LAUREATE in the marketplace.
With Provisional Approval for brewing and malt distilling, SY TENNYSON offers a real step change in malting quality combined with high treated yields, positioning itself as the next generation of malting barley.
For the brewing market, SY TENNYSON offers the highest Hot Water Extract figure of any variety on the new AHDB Recommended List and for the malt distilling market, similarly the highest Predicted Spirit Yield.
SY TENNYSON has the highest Hot Water Extract of any 2024 RL variety – the key quality parameter for the brewing sector
Source: AHDB Recommended List 2024 – all varieties with Full, Provisional or under test for malt distilling (excluding KWS Sassy as no PSY data presented on the RL)
Hitting malting contract specifications is also key for growers and here SY TENNYSON does not disappoint. From Syngenta nitrogen trials, we have been able to demonstrate the flexibility of SY TENNYSON to meet the specifications of both the malt distilling and brewing markets and observed a very similar and consistent pattern of response to that of LAUREATE.
Agronomically, SY TENNYSON has good straw characteristics with strong resistance to both lodging and brackling. Ripening is just one day later than that of LAUREATE.
