South Perth, Western Australia
April 12, 2007
A decision on the status of the
new Victorian barley variety, Buloke, is not expected until
after September this year.
The Chairman of the Western Region Barley Council (WRBC) Steve
Tilbrook said the promising new variety was still undergoing
commercial malting and pilot brewing trials, and farmers should
have no expectations at this stage.
Mr Tilbrook said Buloke’s grain yield was very competitive
against Stirling, Hamelin, Gairdner and Baudin.
“In statewide variety evaluation trials conducted by the
Department of Agriculture
and Food over the four seasons of 2003 to 2006, it out
yielded Baudin and Gairdner by six per cent, and Hamelin and
Stirling by ten per cent. It also has a better over-all disease
resistance package than the other four varieties,” Mr Tilbrook
said.
“There is understandably strong interest in Buloke. However,
Barley Australia is still carrying out commercial acceptance
trials, and there are many decisions yet to be made. There
should be no expectation that Buloke will be accredited as a
malting barley, and no expectation that it will be received as a
malting barley in Western Australia,” Mr Tilbrook said.
“Once trials are complete, the WRBC will review the results and
their implications for WA,” he said.
“It will then be up to member companies such as the Grain Pool,
Joe White Maltings and Kirin Australia to determine if Buloke is
commercially received in WA as a malting barley.”
The Chairman of the Malting and Brewing Industry Barley
Technical Committee Mark Goldsmith said that Buloke had so far
only completed one year of commercial testing.
“Whilst the results are encouraging, there are still brewing
quality issues to be overcome,” Dr Goldsmith said.
Joe White Maltings will run a small batch of Buloke grain
through its plant at Forrestfield this year to obtain some local
data on its malting performance in Western Australia.
JWM maltster Mark Hambly said this did not mean that Buloke
would be received by the company.
“The batch is part of a testing regime to assist with decisions
on what varieties might suit the markets the company produces
malt for, domestically and internationally in south-east Asia,”
Mr Hambly said.
For the 2007 season, the maximum grade that Buloke can be
delivered into will be feed barley, unless production is
contracted for further commercial evaluation. |
|
