Crop varieties making their way on to the AHDB’s Recommended List (RL) will now face a more stringent requirement protocol and be reviewed by a committee.

Additional requirements include new target specifications, which raise the bar compared with the long-established minimum standards, and more scrutiny of any significant weaknesses in criteria which are of high or very high importance.

So what are the main changes, and how do varieties get recommended?

See also: Cereals 2024: After 80 years, where next for Recommended List?

Until this autumn, it was possible for very high-yielding varieties (at least 2 percentage points higher than the yield target) to receive an automatic recommendation, if minimum standards for disease and agronomic features (such as lodging) and end-use market specifications were met.

The RL project board and committees follow strict processes which have one question at their heart: Will this variety potentially provide a consistent economic benefit to the UK cereals or oilseeds industry?

The latest change mostly refers to how that question is answered.

Disease updates

“This year, new target specifications have been introduced for mildew and brown rust in winter wheat and all winter barley and oat diseases,” explains Paul Gosling, senior manager for the RL.

“We also increased the importance of fungicide-untreated yield in wheat and barley, and mildew and crown rust in oats – all from medium to high,” he says.

If a variety fails to meet any of the targets, it will need to demonstrate that it has a strong balance of features (compared with established varieties) for it to gain recommendation.

“Put simply, it needs to offer something different that outweighs any weaknesses in important characteristics,” he says.

“This approach isn’t a radical departure, but it is a further step in a direction we have been moving towards for some years.”

25,000 trial plots assessed

Different growers and end users require different crop traits, which means the RL will feature a diverse range of varieties. Not every variety will suit every situation. In fact, some will be niche, continues Paul.

Each spring, the crop committees review the targets while considering changing industry requirements. This helps to ensure that recommended varieties always deliver what the industry wants and needs.

“We harvest hundreds of trials each year – spread from Cornwall to Aberdeenshire – to deliver annually updated variety data for 11 crops in recommended and descriptive lists.”

This is a far cry from what went into the production of the first list in 1944, which covered only winter wheat.

“Each year, we assess nearly 25,000 trial plots, which would stretch from London to York if placed end to end. This generates the robust data that underpins recommendation decisions,” says Paul.

The results of this year’s selections will be available in RL 2025-26, to be published online on 2 December 2024.