South Perth, Western Australia
February 7, 2008
The Department of
Agriculture and Food, Western Australia is urging farmers
not to dismiss Vlamingh barley in the lead up to the 2008
cropping season while industry undertakes market development for
the variety.
Department Cereal Breeding and Research manager Dr Rob Loughman
said Vlamingh had both Barley Australia accreditation and
Western Region Barley Council approval and was classified as
‘General Malting’ within Western Australia, the same status as
Baudin, Hamelin and Gairdner.
“This means that grain samples meeting malt barley receival
standards will be eligible for a malting premium on receival at
selected sites within Western Australia,” he said.
“Based on research across 224 trials, and using premiums
available at the 2007/08 harvest, Vlamingh had an economic
advantage over Baudin, Gairdner, Hamelin and Stirling.
“This is because it met malt receival standards more reliably
than Baudin and Gairdner, similarly to Stirling and Hamelin, but
with a higher grain yield potential.”
“This key feature may make Vlamingh an attractive option for
growers across the medium to high rainfall areas of Western
Australia.
Dr Loughman said that for all new malting barley varieties,
market development occurred in conjunction with grower adoption
and ongoing agronomic research.
“Vlamingh represents important improvements in malting quality
relative to Stirling and Gairdner, just as Baudin did,” he said
“It took Baudin, now among the leading malting barley varieties
in the world, a couple of seasons before it became accepted by
overseas maltsters and brewers.
“Current leading varieties will naturally represent the bulk of
supply to important export markets.
“Expanding production of Vlamingh will enable markets to assess
its quality and processing performance over a period of time.
“As Vlamingh establishes, the combination of agronomic
performance, delivery opportunity and market acceptance will
define the appropriate place for Vlamingh amongst other barley
varieties available to Western Australian growers.” |
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