With five new winter wheats and two winter barleys on the Recommended List, should farmers opt for a newcomer, or stick with tried and tested favourites this autumn?

Farmers have a bewildering 57 winter wheat and barley varieties to chose from on the current list, along with some candidates.

To help with their selections, Hutchinsons national seeds manager, David Bouch, gives his tips for this year.

See also: Agchem twin packs: Unwanted complication or cost saving opportunity?

Winter barley

David sees six-row hybrid barleys taking a similar proportion of the market (27%) as last season.

Candidate variety Kestrel is the pick of them with its barley yellow dwarf virus resistance, but availability will be limited to a few hundred packs.

There is also a first hybrid barley from KWS, Inys, with a 109% yield, stiff straw and early maturity.

David sees two-row barleys growing their market share, with Caravelle and – new to the Recommended List – Capitol, the highest yielding two-rows at 106%.

Tardis should also remain popular, after building on its market share last year.

Quality wheat

In Group 1, newly recommended Cheer will only find out if it has gained full milling approval this autumn.

As a result, David says Crusoe and Illustrious will remain the millers’ preferred options.

Zyatt and Skyfall will also be popular, but require careful yellow rust management.

Skyfall is the only variety in Groups 1 and 2 with orange wheat blossom midge (OWBM) resistance and has a wide drilling window.

In Group 2, David expects Extase to remain the market leader, with Ultimatum a popular choice for the North.

Bamford dominates Group 3, with a yield of 106%, and untreated yields only exceeded by Extase. It offers a potential biscuit-making premium, as well as access to distilling and export markets.

Feed wheat

Hard Group 4 is further strengthened from the introduction of Beowulf, with 106% UK yield and 107% in the North and excellent grain quality.

It competes with Dawsum and Champion, who David says have set the standard for yield.

Beowulf has extremely stiff straw, with an 8 for lodging both treated and untreated, where 9 is the highest and one the lowest rating.

Beowulf also has the highest rating of 9 for yellow rust resistance and is OWBM resistant.

In Soft Group 4, Redwald has a new challenger for top of the group from Blackstone, which has a 9 for yellow rust, stiffer straw and a better specific weight than Redwald.

David also names Hard Group 4 favourites Gleam for its consistency, and Graham as a popular choice in the West.

It is also suitable for early drilling, which David believes we will see more of this autumn.