NOODLE wheat variety Calingiri is under review, with a possibility the popular variety could be removed from the Wheat Quality Australia (WQA) master wheat list by 2019.
Calingiri joins 14 other varieties under review because it was released more than 10 years ago, despite the variety still representing a significant proportion of Western Australia’s noodle wheat variety plantings.
Other varieties that have been flagged as part of the review include Barnham, Bullaring and Guardian, Derrimut, Bolac, Binnu, Yena and Young.
WQA executive officer Hugh Robertson said Calingiri had been under review for the past 12 months.
“When it is a big variety such as Calingiri, we run an extensive review process which is what has happened with Calingiri as it has been under review for more than 12 months,” Mr Robertson said.
“It is certainly the largest noodle wheat and it is certainly in the top five overall so it is a significant variety.”
He said Calingiri was “a difficult case” with the variety having a good agronomic fit in WA but the main purchaser Japan is not completely happy with its quality.
“Surety of supply is more important than having the absolute best quality but Japan would absolutely prefer an improved variety,” he said.
Mr Robertson said even if a decision was made to remove Calingiri from the WQA master wheat list, there was a two-year notice period which would allow growers time to move to a replacement variety.
“With a variety such as Calingiri it would not be removed until we were completely sure that there was an appropriate replacement that ticked the two most important boxes – an improvement from a quality point of view and that it also sufficiently excited growers to ensure a good supply.”
WQA chairman Don Plowman said where a change to the master list was recommended, further industry consultation would be carried out.
He said many of the varieties under review represented “a tiny” percentage of wheat grown in Australia.
“Despite the apparent lack of relevance of these varieties in the bulk trade, it is important that we consult with breeders, growers, traders and end users to ensure their removal does not have any negative effect on production or marketing,“ Mr Plowman said.
“We are therefore seeking grower feedback on the proposed old varieties before making a final decision.”
Grains Industry Association of WA (GIWA) wheat council chairman Richard Williams said the association had provided feedback on the retention of Calingiri on the WQA master list.
“The review is a standard process and when you look at when it was released in 1997 the variety has been with growers for more than 20 years,” Mr Williams said.
“The noodle wheat industry has stabilised and we are hopeful that growers will see the benefits of moving to the new varieties.”
InterGrain is the only private breeding company which is investing in noodle varieties.
Last year the company released Ninja, which is being marketed as Calingiri’s successor.
InterGrain WA territory manager Kynan Jackson said sales of all newer noodle wheat varieties – Zen, Supreme and Ninja – had sold well for planting this season.
“Ninja did really well in National Variety Trials and strip trials so we are pretty confident that Calingiri will be superseded quite comfortably,” Mr Jackson said.
He said the $4 per tonne End Point Royalty (EPR) charge on Ninja and the $3.85/t EPR on Zen and Supreme were not barriers to uptake.
“I don’t think it is an issue at all, when you are talking about a yield equivalent variety yes then it is a problem but when you are looking at something such as Ninja which is going to conservatively out-do Calingiri by 8-10 per cent there is no real issue,” he said.
Noodle wheat is estimated to be 9pc of the total wheat grown in WA.
Wheat variety Calingiri continues to make agronomic sense for Steve Woods (pictured), but he hasn’t ruled out switching to a newer variety.
Steve, who farms with wife Suzanne at Calingiri, has seeded 400 hectares of Calingiri and Mace wheat as part of his almost 3000ha cropping program this year.
“We haven’t been growing a lot of wheat recently, but basically the decision to grow Calingiri again came down to the fact that it is a good variety for this area and generally yields as good as other common varieties such as Mace or Magenta,” he said.
“The other reason to go in with Calingiri is because wheat prices were so low if there was any premium to come through the wheat market, it would be through the noodles and opportunistic gains throughout the year.
“I would definitely consider swapping to Zen or Ninja further down the track, as I think the National Variety Trials data is showing good or slightly better yield potential.”
