InterGrain's Buff barley gets malt classification

It's been a long journey to get to this accreditation, with InterGrain's sights set on promoting barley to Western Australia's northern regions, which haven't had a lot of variation in the past.

This is a game changer for farmers, who will now be able to vary their rotations, instead of only growing acidic tolerant wheat, while also achieving the premium of a malt barley status.

InterGrain barley breeder David Moody said growers tended to lock in rotations with high levels of wheat due to acidity, which wasn't good for wheat diseases.

"If they've got an option of including barley in that rotation, that provides a rotational benefit for them," Mr Moody said.

"Hopefully, that will provide a little bit of incentive to add barley to the rotation, because there is also a price premium for it."

Mr Moody was optimistic this was "opening the door" for more variations, with InterGrain working with marketers and the bulk handling system to increase the amount of options for farmers.

With China no longer demanding malt barley, he still had a positive outlook for the market despite Australia unable to "replace China overnight".

Australia has been "pretty effective" at marketing its barley, and was confident of Vietnamese and other Asian markets growing in size.

There has also been significant work done in South America to increase malting barley sales, so Mr Moody saw malt barley demand increasing overtime.

Grains Australia announced the successful malt accreditation of Buff on March 1.

Buff barley is a quick-maturing, white aleurone, acid soil tolerant variety that performs well across agriculture zones 1 (Geraldton), 2 (Wongan Hills, Brookton and Corrigin) and 4 (Mullewa and Merredin areas).

With seasons in the paddock, Buff production is widespread across WA and some parts of the east coast graingrowing regions.

Buff provides growers an alternative cereal crop to wheat for acidic and sandy soils, as well as an improved package, including higher yield and improved disease resistance, to previous acid-tolerant barley, Litmus.

InterGrain chief executive officer Tress Walmsley said Buff making malt was great news for growers who can now enjoy the benefits of Buff's flexibility in tough soils and high yield while having access to the malt market.

"The variety not only provides growers with an agronomically suitable barley for growers with challenging acidic and sandy soils, and also the possibility of increased profitability with potential malt premiums," Ms Walmsley said.

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Buff has consistently demonstrated a yield advantage over Litmus in acidic and sandy environments, where pH is below 5.5 (CaCl2) and a significant yield advantage in neutral soil types.

Based on 2018-2022 NVT MET yield results, Buff offers an 8-10 per cent yield improvement over Litmus.

"The Buff malt success story reflects the hard work of InterGrain's team, plus growers who welcomed the opportunity to support the market development and accreditation processes over the last two seasons," Ms Walmsley said.

Meckering grower Neil Carter has been pleased with Buff over the past two years and is planning to seed most of his barley program to Buff this year.

"Buff has been a very useful tool for us on our difficult acidic soils," Mr Carter said.

"We've seen it outyielding other varieties in areas where we have acidic subsoils."

Last season, Mr Carter said all the Buff was within malt specification, however he didn't have the option to deliver it as malt.

"It will be handy to have the opportunity to deliver it as a malt variety this coming harvest and provide more marketing options," Mr Carter said.

Buff barley's malt accreditation will potentially open new markets for growers, allowing them to benefit from the demand for high-quality malt barley. It will also enable growers to access better prices, further improving profitability.

Buff barley's malt accreditation will come into effect in the coming year, with Buff growers set to reap the benefits of this new development.