Cereals 2026: RAGT has high hopes for malting barley Arrow

Plant breeder RAGT is optimistic that its new spring malting barley variety Arrow will become a strong partner for its market-leading variety Laureate.

The new variety gained full approval for distilling in May and is expected to gain full approval for brewing in November, and there is enough seed available for spring 2027 drillings to account for 2% of the market.

See also: How low-input spring malting barley wins for Dorset farm

Tracy Creasy, RAGT’s global malting barley market and portfolio manager, says Arrow mirrors the dual-purpose Laureate in its adaptability and consistency, and will be able to be sold to distillers and brewers, as well as for export.

“The only variety that has come through like Laureate over the last 10 years is Arrow,”  she told a briefing at Cereals 2026.

© David Jones

The variety has been tested at 25 locations across Europe using different drilling dates, soil types and climates, and has come through with the consistency of Laureate.

In addition, the new variety has better quality than Laureate, with a better alcohol yield per hectare, higher yields and better disease resistance, while it is early to mature.

Arrow has been tested by all the main maltsters, and they are likely to offer contracts for growers for the 2027 season, Tracy says.

In January this year, RAGT bought Syngenta’s 2-row spring and winter barley seeds business, bringing Syngenta’s Laureate and RAGT’s brewing-only variety Planet under the same roof.

Laureate accounted for just over 73% of UK maltsters’ purchases of spring barley from the 2025 harvest, while Planet was the third most popular at 6.5%, just behind the KWS-bred Sassy at 7.4%.

UK maltsters are likely buy only 1.4m tonnes of malting barley from the 2026 harvest, down dramatically from the 1.9m tonnes a couple of years ago due to reduced demand from brewers and distillers.