As varieties old and new are showcased at events and open days across the country, what are the headline take-homes? CPM collates thoughts from breeders and industry experts on some of their top picks ready for this autumn’s drilling campaign.
“The key to Arlington’s success is in the fact that it was bred for farmers just as much as the millers.” DR MATT KERTON
By Janine Adamson and Rob Jones
At this time of year there’s plenty of noise coming from all directions of the plant breeding sector. As each firm vies for attention, hoping to gain market share with their varieties, the messages are coming out thick and fast.
With so much to digest, what do the breeders and seed industry experts regard as the essentials? For DSV’s Dr Matt Kerton, it’s simple – it’s all about Arlington.
As reported in May issue of CPM, the Group 1 variety recently achieved full approval, placing it among the UK’s elite breadmaking wheats. Matt says of what’s in the ground right now, Arlington is looking good despite a lack of rain in many regions.
“Arlington’s genetics are holding back significant yellow rust pressure and we’re seeing clean, short, healthy crops on our visits. As such, we’re hearing that the millers are looking forward to seeing more commercial quantities after harvest.
“The key to Arlington’s success is in the fact that it was bred for farmers just as much as the millers. DSV’s aim is to please both,” he comments.
Looking at its attributes, Arlington is a variety that balances strong yield, excellent baking performance and optimum agronomic traits, says Matt. This includes the second highest untreated yield on the entire RL, as well as scoring a 7 for both yellow rust and septoria.
Then in regard to quality, Arlington has a milling specification protein content of 12.5%, Hagberg Falling Number of 309s and specific weight of 78.9kg/hl.
Over at camp RAGT, the team believes more light should be shone on soft feed variety RGT Hexton. This is due to testimonials from customers such as Patrick Mutimer from Suffield in Norfolk, who decided to grow it for the first time this season.
According to Patrick, it was Hexton’s disease resistance profile and standing power that proved attractive, including a 7 for lodging resistance and an 8 for yellow rust.
He says the farm’s aim is to grow a split of soft and hard feed wheats to be used mostly in rations for the farm’s pig enterprise. “We’re looking for something to supply the feed mill, and that can cope with being in a rotation that uses lots of pig muck, digestate and also turkey muck,” explains Patrick.
As such, good lodging resistance is a key requirement, while he says he’s keen to minimise disease risk, particularly after the Yr15 resistance gene being overcome last season.
GIVING IT A GO
Having made the decision to give it a shot, around 70ha of Hexton is being grown on mostly lighter land following either oilseed rape or maize. Most of the farm’s wheat was drilled in a two-week window at the beginning of October.
“With the pigs we have high fertility in our soils so we have to be careful not to drill too early,” he notes, and is also helpful to minimise the risk of barley yellow dwarf virus.
Come harvest, Patrick is looking for Hexton to provide an above average yield in its first year on the farm. “It’s been drilled in the prime drilling slot, so it has to perform.
“I also want to see big bold grains with good specific weight, and a variety where its disease resistance doesn’t break down. Where wheat prices are currently, we can’t afford to be growing dirty wheats.”
For those growing winter barley, managing director of Senova, George Goodwin, hopes interest will continue to increase in Kitty. He believes the two-row variety has the potential to command as much as 10% of the market this autumn.
He bases its appeal on more than just headline yield and quality figures, believing its disease resistance package is a standout, including a 7 for rhynchosporium.
“The other feature that prompts interest is that it has dual strain resistance to soil-borne barley yellow mosaic virus (BaYMV),” he adds.
Kitty has both the rym4 and the rym5 resistance genes, giving it protection from both strain 1 and 2 of the virus. Because the second strain can overcome the rym4 gene – found in most winter barley varieties – this means Kitty should be more robust.
“Soil-borne viruses are a problem in certain parts of the country and in some rotations, as there’s no chemical control for BaYMV,” explains George. “The long-term challenge is persistence, as resting spores can survive for decades.”
In the field, the virus shows up as irregular patches of paler, stunted crop. While crops can grow away from the worst symptoms as temperatures rise, damage to yield and quality may already occurred.
Infection happens during autumn establishment especially when it’s cool and wet around drilling, with symptoms becoming obvious later as the virus moves through the plant.
Another key benefit of Kitty is a moderate to fast speed of development, giving it a growth habit suitable for early drilling, notes George. “It can be drilled in the first week of September and we’ve seen 5-7% higher yields from earlier sowing. That’s also relevant where it’s being grown further north and the windows are tight.”
Despite a currently challenging market outlook for winter barley, Kitty isn’t the only variety seeking the limelight. High-yielding option Buccaneer, from Elsoms Seeds, is a malting variety that came along at the right time with all the right attributes, suggests David Griggs, technical director at Crisp Malt.
“Offering an uplift in yield, particularly on its untreated yield which competes well with many winter feed barleys, Buccaneer has already gained significant industry support following its full MBC approval for brewing use in November 2024. It continues to attract dedicated winter malting barley growers who’ve moved away from older varieties,” he says.
“Following our first commercial trial of 113t in Harvest 2023, by Harvest 2025 we’d increased our intake of Buccaneer to 13,000t, so it’s an exciting variety with a strong future ahead. Maltsters like it, the brewing industry likes it, and I can only see more growers moving towards it as long as it continues to perform in the field.”
BOLD GRAIN
Norfolk farmer Andrew Ross, of W.J.F Ross near Walsingham, has included winter malting barley in his rotation for more than 40 years. He moved to Buccaneer for the first time in 2024/25 and is now in his second season.
“We’re part of the ABC grower group, a 20-year partnership of just over 200 growers supplying Crisp Malt’s two Norfolk sites. Beyond its higher yield, Buccaneer also produces a bigger, bolder grain with lower nitrogen content than other winter malting barleys that we’ve historically grown.
“Although 2025 was exceptionally dry, we still achieved respectable average yields of 7.5t/ha and, importantly, all the Buccaneer we grew made malting spec,” explains Andrew.
He adds that it establishes well, is competitive and straight-forward to manage. “For our 2025/26 crop we’ve raised the N input from 130kgN/ha to 140Nkg/ha on the basis that given Buccaneer yields more, it can take more. As of early summer, our current crop looks clean and has produced a lot of tillers so I’m confident we’ll achieve the higher yield by upping the nitrogen.
“Many growers from the ABC group annually compete in a farmers club competition to produce the best malting barley crop, and out of 60 farms who entered, I was delighted to win in 2025 with my first crop of Buccaneer,” highlights Andrew.
A STEP UP
Elsoms Seeds’ Kurtis Scarboro believes Buccaneer has raised the bar in terms of its improved genetics and offers growers significant agronomic advantages above older winter malting barley varieties.
“To help farmers improve future Buccaneer crops we ran a new set of trials last year to find the perfect nitrogen programme, enabling it to reach its optimum nitrogen content for brewing. The aim was to achieve 1.65-1.7% of nitrogen in Buccaneer’s grain while simultaneously maintaining its high yield using lower application rates compared with competitor 2-row winter malting barleys.
“Due to the extremely dry growing conditions during 2025, carrying out nutrition trials was particularly challenging. However, once the rain arrived we observed that across a range of nitrogen inputs, Buccaneer delivered consistently lower grain N content in combination with higher yields than the two established control varieties.
“Its higher yield means its grain N is diluted somewhat in comparison to the controls. This is important to growers because it shows that Buccaneer can be relied upon to deliver high yields while achieving target grain N content across a range of different growing regimes, and in the face of challenging weather conditions.”
Shifting to the golden break crop, RGT Eros is an oilseed rape to watch, says Kirsty Richards, national technical manager for seeds at Frontier Agriculture.
With a gross output of 108% it’s yield is 2% higher than its nearest rival. This, plus the fact Eros is part of the Frontier OSR derisking partnership, should be enough to pique interest this coming season.
“We began the scheme in 2024 when cabbage stem flea beetle was at its peak,” highlights Kirsty. “Frontier sits at both ends of the chain as an input and advice supplier and grain buyer, which places us in a good position to minimise the risk for growers. It means that growers that sign-up to the scheme have the cost for the seed and accompanying companion crop waived if the crop fails to establish.
“Therefore, to give growers the best opportunity to succeed, we only place the best possible varieties in the derisking partnership.”
Eros has agronomics similar to varieties such as RGT Kanzzas, including strong foliar disease resistance with 8 scores for phoma and light leaf spot. “It has good oil content which is attractive for the oil bonuses,” adds Kirsty.
PILOT RUN
RAGT cereals and oilseeds product manager Ed Stanford says expectations for sales this coming year are being managed because Eros is still a candidate variety. But, this year is an ideal chance for farmers to try a percentage of their area to see how it performs against their existing choices.
“We’re expecting Eros to be well-placed to come onto the new RL in the winter, and for it to be a variety that takes a decent market share,” continues Ed. “With prospects for the crop appearing so good at the moment, it’s the perfect opportunity for OSR growers to see how much further they can push yields with the latest genetics.”
This article was taken from the latest issue of CPM. Read the article in full here.
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