A milestone in breeding

KWS has been breeding barley with huge commercial success since the early 1920s. The strong performance of our winter barley varieties has enabled us to capture a leading position in the European market over many years. This success was driven through continuous innovation that delivers measurable breeding progress. KWS barley is already a versatile crop with different marketing opportunities for farmers.

In the coming years, we will extend our existing barley breeding portfolio to bring hybrid barley to the market. “Our long-time experience will help us to grow and develop the segment in the coming years,” says Jürgen Leitzke, Head of the Business Unit Cereals. “A hybridized market allows further investments, which lead to broader solutions and added value for farmers as well as a competitive positioning of KWS.”

When Sandra Dunckel, Head of Breeding Barley and Special Crops and Organics, looks back at the process of breeding hybrid barley, what stands out to her is the great teamwork among everyone involved – including breeding, production, commercial, marketing and more: “It took many people’s hard work to get us to this point. It was, still is and will remain a great team effort from the teams across functions – a spirit that is needed for the future.”

The hybrid barley breeding programme has taken the team across Europe, strengthening the bonds between different KWS stations and also functions. “KWS hybrids entered official trials in autumn 2022, which was definitely an exciting milestone for us,” Sandra Dunckel recalls. “We had trials across multiple countries this year and were active in multiple geographies in Europe.”

UK as the first market

The first country to launch hybrid barley will be the UK in 2024, with other core markets such as Germany and France following in the coming years. Hybrid barley makes up a significant part of the market in the UK. Winter barley is grown on 450,000 ha every year in the UK, of which 25 percent is hybrid barley, with rising potential.

From a farmer’s perspective, hybrid barley promises the potential for higher yields and more resilience. “Farmers are increasingly under pressure in terms of production costs. One way to withstand that pressure is to have higher yield potential and to have better disease resistances. Another thing that will be key for farmers is strong varieties with a good grain quality,” says Kate Cobbold, Hybrid Barley, Oilseeds and Special Crops Manager.

Additionally, hybrid barley also has the potential to control grassweeds. It is an ideal crop to have before oilseed rape, which can be drilled earlier due to hybrid barley’s harvest maturity. This also has the benefit of spreading the workload for farmers at a very busy time of the year.

An evolutionary next step

The future orientation of hybrid barley consists of different elements such as seeds, seed coating, digital solutions and personal advice, creating an individual approach that delivers added value throughout the supply chain.

“The new hybrid barley keeps us at the forefront of breeding technology and lets us enter a market that we haven’t been in so far,” says Kate Cobbold, adding that “now we have a wider range of solutions that we can offer farmers.”

Adding hybrid barley to the KWS portfolio is an important milestone, strengthening KWS for future challenges and delivering added value to farmers. It is also an opportunity to use the expertise gained to create more solutions suitable for a variety of local markets in the coming years. Sandra Dunckel says: “I am really excited about the varieties that are in the pipeline. As a company, we are making hybrid barley possible.”