Winter barley recommended and candidate lists

Recommended List winter barley harvest results show uplift in newly published data

• First trials harvested came in even earlier than 2025
• Results from seven fungicide-treated RL trials and four fungicide-untreated trials are now available
• Average control yield is 9.53 t/ha in the fungicide-treated trials, which is 0.41 t/ha below the five-year average
• Average control yield in the fungicide-untreated trials is 7.89 t/ha, which is 0.34 t/ha below the five-year average

The yield results from 7 of the 15 fungicide-treated AHDB Recommended Lists (RL) winter barley trials have been published today (27^th July 2026). View the full list of trials. Results from Northumberland, Scottish Borders and Fife have been added to those reported already from Yorkshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. The Scottish trials continue the trend of early harvest, but the Northumberland trial was harvested later than in 2025. Average control yields have been buoyed by the results from northern sites, but are still slightly down from last year.

The current average fungicide-treated yield of control varieties (9.53 t/ha) is 0.41 t/ha below the five-year average of 9.94 t/ha. This is quite a change from the first set of results, as the northern sites have been less impacted by the extreme temperatures and lack of rainfall affecting those reported so far. The current average fungicide-untreated yield of control varieties (7.89 t/ha) is just 0.34 t/ha below the five-year average (8.23 t/ha).

The 2025–26 season

Like 2025, good autumn drilling conditions and a largely benign winter left trials looking good with high yield potential, only for prolonged drought and record-breaking high temperatures to cause early senescence and limit yield potential, especially on lighter land. However, trials in the North are so far yielding above the 5-year average in fungicide-treated trials.

There have been widespread reports of BYDV and WDV in crops this year, though RL trials are treated for aphids in the autumn to control BYDV. There are now several varieties on the RL with resistance or tolerance to BYDV and one with tolerance of WDV, with some high yielding BYDV tolerant candidates this year.

In dry seasons such as 2025 and 2026, growers are understandably keen to identify varieties that perform well under drought stress. However, generating reliable drought‑response data remains difficult. Trials affected by drought often show substantial within‑trial variability driven by subtle soil‑type differences that influence water availability. This makes it challenging to separate environmental effects from true varietal drought tolerance. As a result, the most drought‑affected trials may be rejected for yield, although none have required rejection so far in 2026.

Control varieties

Yields are represented as a percentage of the control varieties. In 2026 the control varieties comprise two malting varieties, Craft and Buccaneer, the two-row feed variety LG Caravelle, the six-row hybrid variety SY Kingsbarn and the six-row conventional variety KWS Feeris. The average of the yields from these varieties is represented as 100%.

2026 averages

As the current 2026 average values show yields based on data from only seven fungicide-treated sites and four fungicide-untreated sites they should be treated with caution, particularly this year with drought impacting performance in some trials.

SY Canyon continues to be the highest yielding variety in the fungicide-treated trials at this stage on 107% but is slightly behind its 5-year average in fungicide-untreated trials on 106%.

The next two highest yielding in the fungicide-treated trials are two-row varieties LG Capitol and LG Caravelle both on 106%, with these varieties outperforming their 5-year average yield at this stage. Next highest yielding is newly recommended two-row LG Catapult, which has a specific recommendation for tolerance to BYDV, and NOS Olena, both on 105%. LG Catapult is also the highest yielding in fungicide-untreated trials at 116%. The other newly recommended two-row for the East, Darcie, is performing above its 5-year average on 103% in fungicide-treated trials. The two-row variety Organa is performing well in fungicide-untreated trials on 114% as is LG Carpenter on 113%, both of which are tolerant to BYDV.  

SY Kingsbarn and the newly recommended SY Barnabus, both on 104%, are slightly behind their 5-year averages in fungicide-treated trials. The other six-row hybrid varieties also seem to be performing slightly below their 5-year averages at this stage. Inys is on 102% and SY Quantock and SY Kestrel, which has a specific recommendation for resistance to BYDV, are both on 101%. This trend is also continued in the fungicide-untreated trials, with SY Quantock on 106%, Inys on 95% and SY Kestrel on 94%.    

The six-row conventional variety Integral (101%), which is tolerant of BYDV is also below to its five-year average at this stage. The two malting varieties Buccaneer (98%) and Craft (90%) are performing broadly in-line with their 5-year averages. Buccaneer is performing will in fungicide-untreated trials on 107%.

2022–26 (five-year) averages

The five-year average values provide a better representation of performance across seasons. The results are starting to differ slightly from the values for 2026 as more trials are being reported. The newly recommended six-row hybrid SY Barnabus (106%) is highest yielding, with six-row hybrids SY Kingsbarn, Inys, SY Quantock, and SY Canyon all on 105%.

The two-row varieties LG Capitol and LG Caravelle are also on 105%, with KWS Valencis on 104%. BYDV tolerant varieties, the six-row conventional Integral and two-row LG Catapult are on 103% and along with NOS Olena and Russo, which is recommended only for the East.

In fungicide-untreated trials, LG Carpenter is highest yielding on 109%, with newly recommended SY Barnabus also on 109%. LG Catapult, which is also newly recommended, and LG Caravelle are close behind on 108%.

Candidate varieties

All candidate varieties for 2026 have been added to the GB and NI Variety List (VL) and so data can be reported. Five-year averages provide a better prediction for candidate performance and will be used alongside grain quality and agronomic data to make decisions on recommendation in the autumn.

The six-row hybrid SY Fisher is highest yielding on 106% in fungicide-treated trials and is performing comparably so far in 2026. The two-row variety Inferno from Elsoms Ackermann Barley is also on 106% along with the six-row hybrid SY Fastnet. Inferno is highest yielding in fungicide-untreated trials on 111%.  

There are several candidates with tolerance to BYDV. The highest yielding of these is the two-row KWS Lemuris, (105% fungicide-treated, 109% fungicide-untreated), followed by KWS Blis (103% fungicide-treated, 104% fungicide-untreated), LG Caprice (103% fungicide-treated, 109% fungicide-untreated) and Paquita from Senova (102% fungicide-treated, 102% fungicide-untreated).

The final candidate is the six-row hybrid Idrys from KWS on 104% in fungicide-treated and 102% in fungicide-untreated trials.

With still over half of this season’s trials to report these trial results should be treated as very provisional and it is important to note that yield and rankings of varieties will change as more data becomes available.

Further information

See our harvest results page