From the publication of the lists on the web in the 1990s to the launch of RL interactive in 2025, the RL is no stranger to digital developments.

We have issued several interactive tools in recent years. Developed following RL reviews, each one can take your variety-selection approach to the next level.

With all tools now based on the latest data (RL 2025/26), it is a good time to look at the strengths of each tool – moving from the least to the most interactive.

Following the annual update of the RL, we update the online tables first to get the latest variety data to you quickly.

The current tables (PDF and Excel formats) were first published on 2 December 2024, closely followed by the RL 2025/26 booklet on 13 January 2025.

The tables feature all 11 crops and provide information on yield, quality, disease resistance and agronomic traits in recommended and descriptive lists.

The online tables also feature the latest information on candidate varieties.

We can only publish yield and agronomic data after a candidate variety is added to the GB and NI Variety Lists (VL), which happens throughout the year.

Another benefit of the Excel tables is that you can download the data and analyse it however you see fit (particularly if you are a whiz with spreadsheets).

The RL app provides a powerful and pint-sized way to carry the latest variety data in your pocket.

The RL app:

• Is easy to download (for free on iOS and Android devices)*
• Has simple menus and tables in a familiar RL format
• Makes it easy to search for varieties (and mark favourites and add notes)
• Allows the comparison of up to three varieties side by side
• Works offline (so you can use it anywhere)

The main update occurs in January each year. We also ‘push’ updates to the app at any time, so it always features the latest data, meaning that you do not need to keep checking our website for candidate data, for example.

*Search app stores for "Recommended Lists".

RL interactive was launched earlier this year. As you would expect from the name, it has more interactive elements than the tables and app.

At events during 2024, levy payers identified a strong preference for a tool similar to the AHDB Recommended Grass and Clover List (RGCL) tool.

As a result, the tool uses the RL tables as a foundation and has built-in filters that let you to home in on the varieties with your preferred strengths.

For example, RL interactive lets you:

• Select varieties for specific end-use markets
• Specify the minimum requirements for fungicide-treated yield
• Identify varieties with resistance to specific pests, diseases and lodging
• Find varieties based on ripening and quality data
• Download data to a spreadsheet (Excel) for further analysis

If you like RL interactive and would like to take your approach to the next level, then the variety selection tool provides unprecedented power to analyse variety trial data.

Compared to the other RL resources, it has a different look and feel, mainly because it is full of bells and whistles.

For example, the RL variety selection tool lets you:

• Compare varieties' agronomic merit scores (a non-yield metric that aims to capture the genetic potential of varieties based on resistance to disease and lodging – weighted towards the characteristics most important to you)
• Reveal the UK or regional yield performance of selected varieties, including how varieties respond to fungicides (treatment benefit)
• See how varieties performed at specific trial sites and in particular years
• Select varieties with specific grain quality traits that match your end markets

The best way to understand its full power is to dive in and play. It is not possible to break it, I promise, and it has a handy reset (clear all filters) button, if you want to start again.

Although the online tables and the RL app get a major update each year, RL interactive and the RL variety selection tool are updated incrementally, one crop at a time.

The latest update adds winter oats and spring oats to the line-up, which completes the set (alongside winter wheat, spring barley, winter barley and winter oilseed rape).

The cycle starts again on Monday 1 December 2025, with the launch of RL 2026/27 online.

For those who prefer a more traditional approach to interaction, check out our variety open days in Cambridgeshire (18 June 2025) and Fife (1 July 2025).

In addition to variety plot tours, the events provide a fantastic opportunity to discover how AHDB is working for you.

Our experts will be on hand to talk about integrated pest management, grain markets and the Environment Baselining Pilot.

The page also features information about other key variety events, such as the ADAS/AHDB summer open day in Herefordshire (17 June).

Information on the AFBI/AHDB event in Northern Ireland will be published soon.