With the arrival of Group 1 winter wheats SY Cheer and KWS Vibe it could be the time for growers to head back to breadmaking wheats.
That’s the view of UK Flour Millers (UKFM) head of technical and regulatory affairs, Joe Brennan. With excellent grain quality and strong disease resistance they couldn’t have joined the Recommended List at a better time he believes.
He believes they could reignite grower interest in the Group 1 category.
Projected miller demand for wheat is strong, with the sector using just under 5 million tonnes each season. This demand is stable and the UK Flour Millers industry usage survey shows that in years where domestic production is high and quality is good, homegrown usage has reached 85%. “Millers prefer to use homegrown breadmaking wheat when it is available at the right quality,” he adds.
In 2022 – 2023, 83% of the wheat we used was homegrown. But since then, Group 1 production has declined significantly, the UKFM estimate by just under a third.
Given this production decline against stable milling industry demand for milling wheat, it is hoped that new varieties will heighten grower interest in the Group 1 category.
“Alongside food security, there are other advantages. For example, we are closely involved in UK wheat variety development and better understand the quality nuances of domestic varieties. SY Cheer and KWS Vibe, as with all milling varieties on the RL, were tested over three years to understand seasonal variation in functionality. Potential new Group 1 varieties are also tested at commercial scale before the Group is confirmed, to give the supply chain confidence in the rating,” he adds.
