Two years since gaining approval for malt distilling, spring malting barley Firefoxx, is continuing to garner interest from the trade.

As such, Muntons supply chain manager, Mark Ineson, perceives Firefoxx (bred by Elsoms-Ackermann Barley) as an important step forward in helping to secure diversity of supply in a sector where varietal change can be slow.

“We continually assess new malting barleys coming through the system and in 2023, we trialled a small tonnage of Firefoxx grain into distilling malt to confirm that it performed equally as well as other varieties. On the back of that commercial trial, we decided to upscale our interest in Firefoxx to 3000t this year.”

Agronomic benefits

Mark points out that as a newer variety, it has a number of agronomic advantages including a different genetic background, helping to ensure future supply security in the event of a potential resistance breakdown.

He adds that although on-farm reports confirm both grain quality and yield consistency, the critical factor is that Firefoxx fully meets customers specifications for supply.

“All in all, Firefoxx should see its market share increase in the next 3-5 years, with a realistic scenario being it replaces older varieties such as Laureate and Sassy in our Scottish supply markets. It could also overtake Diablo as the second biggest variety we’re running within northern England providing it continues to perform well.”

Prospects

Stuart Rowley, managing director at James Mortimer Limited, adds: “As a malting barley trader and a seed producing business covering the whole of Yorkshire, we’re in the position of being able to scan new top-performing varieties for our farmer customers and help them to transition successfully.

“Spring malting barley is a very important crop, particularly in the East Riding of Yorkshire, and we’re excited about Firefoxx’s prospects for the next 2-3 years.”

According to Stuart, the cycle of market change in malting barley tends to be much slower than in wheat or oilseed rape, so it’s important to support the shift fully once the right variety comes along.

“Agronomically earlier to harvest and MBC approved, Firefoxx ticks all the right boxes with its different genetic make-up helping growers to mitigate risk. Equally important though is that the end home market wants it,” he confirms.

Assessing performance

Nicky Wilson, regional seed manager for Frontier Agriculture, first trialled Firefoxx in 2021 and has subsequently assessed its performance against other spring malting barleys during the past three years. She sees significant untapped market potential for a variety which she admits been a slow-burner for some growers.

“It seems a long time since it first appeared on the RL in 2020, but in truth, the early adopters who went with Firefoxx have all remained loyal. Now major maltsters such as Muntons are fully on board, I can only see its popularity and area increasing in the short-to-medium term.”

Comparing Firefoxx’s performance with Laureate, Nicky says Firefoxx’s agronomic package stands up well, and, if anything, she’d argue it has had the edge on both yield and consistency.

 “With the pressures of a comparatively short growing season in Scotland exacerbated by recent challenging weather for spring drilling, many of our grower customers have already confirmed their interest in growing a larger area of a variety that has excellent grain quality and is often a week earlier to harvest than both Laureate and Sassy,” she adds.

Farmer perspective

Farming 1215ha near Coupar Angus, north-east of Perth, is malting barley specialist John McLaren of MJ and J McLaren. John explains that annually, spring malting barley accounts for more than a third of the farm’s total cropping area so it’s an important crop for the business.

“We first began working with Firefoxx in 2021 – the year after it first appeared on the RL – and were initially very impressed when it consistently outyielded Laureate in 2021, 2022 and 2023. 

“On the evidence of those first three years, we substantially increased our area of Firefoxx to 365ha in 2024, making it our first choice spring barley. Despite a 3.5 week delay on drilling last spring due to terrible weather, the crop still performed well, delivering average bushel weights of 65kg/hl, very low skinnings of 0.8% and over 7.5t/ha on yield.”

He says on average, his Firefoxx crops have been 2-3 days earlier to combine than Laureate each season, helping to spread harvest. “It’s easier to combine with the straw coming out drier, and the overall grain quality has been excellent. For 2025, we plan to drill 365ha of Firefoxx, all of which will be a commercial crop for Muntons with a small, additional area grown for seed,” concludes John.