Australia
October 9, 2015
Barley Australia manages the malting barley evaluation process, whereby new barley varieties are assessed over two seasons, (Stage 1 and Stage 2), to determine their suitability for the malting and brewing industries.
Barley Australia is aware of statements being made regarding Compass barley (WI4593) and its “likely malting accreditation in 2017”.
There is a specific timeline for the evaluation process and there are currently three new lines, Compass, Rattler and IGB1334T in Stage 1. It is therefore important for growers and other interested parties to understand that the accreditation system is an accepted industry process and to allow due process to take its course, without pre-empting the outcome
In February 2016, it is expected that when the analytical and testing data have been reviewed for Compass along with Rattler and IGB 1334T, a decision will be made to move to Stage 2 if the results meet the standards and levels required.
In the meantime, although some preliminary market development work is being undertaken, these varieties remain as feed barleys at this time.