Highest yielding 2-row winter malting barley achieves full malting status for brewing

Following the Malting Barley Committees’ (MBC) autumn meeting on November 4^th, the winter malting barley Buccaneer, from Elsoms Seeds, was granted full approval for brewing use.

       With a treated yield of 99%, the variety is the highest yielding 2-row winter malting variety on the 2024/25 RL - 3% ahead of Electrum and 6% ahead of Craft, and its full approval status offers winter malting barley growers more varietal choice as they look ahead to autumn 2025 drilling confirms Jonathan Arnold, joint managing director at Robin Appel Limited.

        Jonathan says” We’ve been tracking Buccaneer’s progress through the trials system and there’s little doubt that it has all the right agronomic credentials to become an established malting variety. In recent years there’s been a noticeable lack of new winter malting barley varieties coming onto the RL, and, with historically lower yields and low premiums, I think many growers have moved over to hybrid and higher yielding feed barley varieties.

       “Buccaneer’s arrival is definitely timely, given that the industry has been crying out for a higher yielding winter malting barley. With a big uplift in yield, particularly its untreated yield which competes well with the untreated yields offered by many winter feed barleys, a variety like Buccaneer could help to reverse recent trends as long as good contracts and premiums are there next year.

          “Following last year’s challenging autumn establishment conditions, which saw a further reduction in the winter barley area, Buccaneer’s full malting approval for 2025 should make it of serious interest for growers either coming back to the crop, or those keen to switch from feed barley back to winter malting barley. It’s also worth noting that a good crop of winter barley can offer growers a nice risk-spreading strategy versus spring crops, given the type of hot, dry springs the UK experienced in 2020, 2022 and 2023” concludes Jonathan.

       Laura Jones, malting barley trader at Saxon Agriculture, agrees that Buccaneer has the potential to reverse recent grower trends.

        She adds” At Saxon Agriculture we have a strong business ethos in supporting new varieties coming through the system so, when it became likely that Buccaneer would go onto the RL in 2023, we made a strategic decision to place a significant area of the crop in the ground for crop 24 demonstrating our confidence and belief in the variety.

       “For growers, it’s a definite step forward on yield over market leader Craft and has shown very strong resistance to both Brown Rust and Rhynchosporium with very low Brackling levels. With good contracts available, I believe it will not only take market share away from other winter malting barleys, but also sway growers who had defected over to feed or hybrid barleys.

        “Another strong winter malting barley variety in the market offers growers and the brewing trade more choice, and that’s important for a sector that was starting to look exposed when dominated by one variety. Although the cropping area for winter malting barley is comparatively small at the moment, there is certainly scope to produce more winter barley for general brewing production in the UK and for specialist export markets.

      “Buccaneer offers low screenings and good specific weights making it popular with maltsters based on its suitability for producing roasted malts for craft beers, a growth sector in recent years. Whilst it sits nicely besides spring malting barley for general brewing production, winter malting barley is also becoming increasingly more important for producing speciality export malts.

        “Ultimately, growers need strong varieties supported by contracts with good premiums to incentivise them, and, in Buccaneer, they have an exceptional winter malting barley with no obvious weaknesses” she concludes.