Information from a recent malting barley conference suggests a positive future for the crop, with increased malting capacity and a strong overseas uptake of a UK variety.
Addressing attendees, Tracy Creasy, Syngenta malting barley portfolio manager, said that there was significant expansion across the UK and Europe.
The UK’s position is bolstered by its position as one of the leading spring barley certified seed producers, with UK variety Laureate accounting for nearly 62% of spring barley purchased for malting in 2023.
“In 2024 Laureate had a 27% market share in Europe,” she explained. “Varieties that are in demand by end users in the UK and Europe offer UK growers greater end market potential.
“As well as its good malting quality and disease resistance, the widespread popularity of Laureate is also due to it being well-adapted to growing in different environments and seasons. This helps it to deliver consistent results.
“Consequently, adaptability plus other characteristics suited to modern farming – such as varieties that use nitrogen efficiently and excel in minimum cultivation systems – are firmly among our spring barley breeding targets. These are in addition to yield, quality and agronomics. We’re already making progress.”
Syngenta technical manager, Robert Jackson, added that estimates suggest the 2025 spring barley area could be down by 13% in the UK, while demand is expected to be 1.9m tonnes.
“We expect Laureate to be a leading UK variety again in 2025,” he said, “not least because it has performed consistently over the last eight years when the yields of some other spring malting barley varieties in trials have fallen. However, there are also now additional new promising varieties coming through for future years, such as SY Tennyson, SY Signet and SY Arrow.
“Like Laureate, SY Tennyson has full approval for brewing and malt distilling uses on the Malting Barley Committee (MBC) approved list of varieties for harvest 2025, but it has taken key malting quality characteristics for both markets to another level. Meanwhile, SY Signet has Provisional Approval 2 for brewing use on the MBC list, but a lot of eyes are on the potential dual-purpose variety, SY Arrow.
“Under test for brewing and malt distilling, SY Arrow takes yield on from Laureate while providing very high quality similar to SY Tennyson, and combining this with strong disease resistance. It’s also slightly earlier maturing than Laureate, which will help some growers with harvest, and like Laureate, has yielded consistently well.”