Secobra Commercial Manager Tom and Spring Barley Breeder Paul Bury travelled across several key Scottish barley-growing areas, visiting trials from Midlothian to Angus and meeting businesses across the malting, seed and distilling supply chain.

For Tom, the trip provided an important opportunity not only to assess varieties in the field, but also to hear directly from the businesses that will ultimately malt, brew and distil them. “Getting out into the field and spending time with maltsters, seed partners and distillers gives us a much fuller picture of how varieties are performing and, importantly, what the market is going to need from them,” says Tom. “The Scottish trials are looking very encouraging, and the conversations reinforced the potential we see in both our established pipeline and some of the newer technology coming through.”

The trip began at the Midlothian spring barley trial, east of Edinburgh. Despite being the most southerly of the sites visited, the crop was also the latest maturing, with harvest still expected to be around two weeks away at the time of the visit.

The site was considerably improved on the previous year, with Ptarmigan and Belter performing particularly strongly, alongside promising material within Secobra’s development pipeline.

At Gateside in Fife, the trial was much closer to harvest and provided a useful opportunity to compare maturity. Ptarmigan was noticeably early, while Belter and Laureate were similar.

Further north at Forfar, challenging wet conditions had done little to dampen the performance of the plots. The site was approximately a week from harvest and was looking well, with the expectation that it will provide useful trial data once combined.

Alongside the trial visits, discussions with maltsters and other supply chain partners provided further encouragement for two of Secobra’s key spring barley varieties.

Feedback on Belter was again particularly positive, with the variety having another strong season. Ptarmigan is also undergoing further pilot work, helping to generate additional commercial data and support its progression towards wider brewing and distilling opportunities.

Tom says the consistency of the feedback was particularly valuable. “What was encouraging was hearing similar messages from different parts of the supply chain. Belter is having another strong year, while there continues to be genuine interest in what Ptarmigan could offer the Scottish market.”

The visit also included time at Arbikie Distillery, where the team met owner and farmer John Stirling.

Arbikie is growing both Ptarmigan and Belter, providing Secobra with an opportunity to see its varieties being grown directly by a distilling business and to understand the requirements of barley from the end user’s perspective.

For Secobra, these relationships are an important part of variety development. Yield and agronomic performance remain fundamental, but a successful malting barley variety must ultimately work throughout the supply chain, from grower and merchant through to maltster, brewer or distiller.

The trip also reinforced the challenges currently facing the malting barley sector.

Significant stocks from previous harvests remain within the system, creating pressure on new crop demand. At the same time, early indications suggest a regional divide in crop quality this harvest, with crops further north generally expected to deliver stronger malting quality than some southern growing regions.

Against that backdrop, demonstrating clear value throughout the supply chain becomes increasingly important for new varieties. “Trips like this help validate what we’re seeing in our own trials against what our commercial partners and end users are experiencing,” Tom adds.

“The message from Scotland was encouraging. Our trials are looking strong, there is continued interest in Belter and Ptarmigan, and we have some exciting opportunities further ahead. Now we’re looking forward to getting the trials harvested and seeing what the results tell us.”