Australia: Promising new Victorian barley variety still undergoing commercial malting and pilot brewing trials

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, Seed Quest reported April 12.

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.

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