High yielding feed variety set to continue market resurgence of Soft wheat

Sparkler, a new Group 4 Soft wheat with a very high UK treated yield of 106%, has joined the 2026/27 Recommended List (RL) as the highest yielding UK Soft feed variety confirms Kurtis Scarboro, Crop Manager for leading independent breeder Elsoms Seeds.

Kurtis says: “With a powerful genetic background combining Graham and LG Skyscraper in its parentage, Sparkler offers growers the benefits of both a very high treated and untreated yield. Historically, Graham performed very strongly in the West, whilst Skyscraper dominated the North of England and Scotland for many years, so we’re very excited to see Sparkler continue that impressive lineage in both those key regions and throughout the rest of the UK.

“On Septoria resistance it scored an impressive 7.2, giving it the second highest Septoria score on the RL behind another Elsoms variety, Mayflower. A 7 for yellow rust was also excellent in a year when high disease pressures on yellow rust led to many varieties being downgraded.

“Sparkler’s wide marketability, based on both its suitability for UK distilling and  recent approval for UKS export, gives it a key advantage over other Group 4 Soft wheats. On alcohol yields, across 3 years of testing, it has been rated as high for its distilling quality, significantly outperforming the mean of controls and, with exceptional early vigour, a good specific weight of 76.7kg/hl plus a high tillering capacity enabling it to produce a lot of straw, Sparkler possesses a strong list of desirable agronomic traits.

“With distributor support for the variety building nicely and high expectations ahead for crop26 we are confident that Sparkler will attract the attention of wheat growers to continue the process already begun by another Elsoms variety, Bamford, 2 years ago in re-addressing the balance of Hard and Soft wheat currently being grown in the UK” concludes Kurtis.  

Supporting the AHDB’s recommendation on Sparkler, Lincolnshire based arable farmer Vic Barker, who farms 222ha on soils ranging from heavy loam to light silt loam, got an early opportunity to evaluate the new Group 4 and was impressed with its performance during a very challenging season noted for prolonged dry conditions.

Vic says” We drilled 6ha of Sparkler at a seed rate of 175kg/ha in early December 2024 into 2 fields following crops of cabbages and parsnips respectively. Establishing well, the crop showed tremendous early vigour, wintered well, then kicked on again in early spring following its first split of N applied at a rate of 80kg/ha on March 3rd.

“Given Sparkler is completely new to us, we adopted a belt and braces approach in our fungicides strategy with both our T1 and T2 sprays built around a strong tank mix that included both Revystar (mefentrifluconazole + fluxapyroxad) and Stabilan (chlormequat chloride) - a PGR we use as additional insurance to prevent lodging and strengthen plant stems. The variety was straightforward to manage, fitting nicely into our normal spray pattern and all went smoothly through spring and early summer. However, by June 14^th when we applied our T3, the absence of any significant rainfall had become a serious concern.

“Harvesting in the second week of August, Sparkler was our highest yielding winter wheat from 5 varieties grown in 2025, recording an average yield of 9.76t/ha – a great result given the near drought conditions. In terms of my initial observations, its ability to get away quickly could potentially make Sparkler a good variety for late drilling. It tillered well, producing a lot of straw and coped better with the dry conditions than some of our other varieties.

“For crop26 we’ve gone with an earlier drilling date and increased our drilled area to 10ha. Assuming different weather challenges next year I’m sure we’ll know a lot more about Sparkler by next harvest. It’s early days, but I certainly like what I’ve seen so far and its inclusion on the new RL looks fully justified” he concludes.

With very high importance linked to Sparkler’s future distilling potential, Nick Pitts, Supply Chain Sustainability Manager at the Scottish Whisky Research Institute (SWRI) has been testing the new Group 4 Soft wheat in recent months.

Nick adds” The SWRI is the industry’s research and technology organisation, conducting forward-looking studies to support our members, who represent the majority of the industry. We run a comprehensive testing programme covering all stages of whisky production; from raw materials like wheat and barley to bottling, ensuring long-term sustainability.

“We also have a key role in supporting the AHDB’s RL trials by evaluating soft wheat varieties for distilling quality. SWRI is the sole provider of this data throughout the National List testing process. Distilling quality assessments focus on Alcohol Yield and Residue Viscosity measurements; wheats with high alcohol yield and low viscosity over multiple years are rated ‘High,’ acceptable distilling quality is rated ‘Medium’, while those with poor performance or processing issues are rated ‘Low.’

“Distillers prefer soft wheats of at least ‘Medium’ quality, so the addition of Sparkler to the RL as a ‘High’ distilling variety - alongside other varieties such as Solitaire - is welcome. Sparkler has consistently delivered high alcohol yields during testing, offering farmers and distillers a strong option for grain distilling” he concludes.