UK Flour Millers has announced the winter wheat variety Vibe is confirmed as a full Group 1 variety following three years of baking assessments.

Vibe joined the AHDB Recommended List (RL) back in December 2024 as a provisional Group 1 variety, being a much needed addition with its good disease resistance and an untreated yield of 89%.

See also: Variety list shake-up with 24 new winter wheats and barleys

UK Flour Millers head of technical and regulatory affairs Joe Brennan said: “Group 1 winter varieties are the backbone of UK milling wheat demand and are defined by good breadmaking quality that is stable across seasons.

“Our assessments have found that Vibe fully meets these essential criteria.”

He added that over the three years of testing, Vibe showed high protein and a strong, consistent breadmaking quality.”

The variety follows hot on the heels of Cheer, a winter wheat whose full Group 1 rating was confirmed in September 2024.

For millers, the change in pace is welcome, as prior to this no new Group 1 winter wheats had joined the RL since Zyatt in 2017.

Joe added: “In recent years we’ve seen the popularity of Group 1 wheats decline significantly, with projections for 2025 indicating this trend will continue.”

The decline has contributed to a deficit in supply of home-grown breadmaking wheat, with millers having to use more imported wheat to meet the steady demand for UK flour.

“We hope new Group 1 varieties can help reverse this trend and expect that Vibe will appeal to farmers given its strong agronomic package.”

Approval was given following a meeting of the UK Flour Millers Varieties Working Group, which comprises of representatives from the largest flour milling businesses in the UK.

This took place in early March 2025 to discuss the wheat, milling, and baking quality data of Vibe from 2024 crop samples, as well as assessments from the previous three years of testing.