This year’s Varieties Focus brings you all the newest varieties for cereals, beans and oilseed rape. Over the month of June, the Irish Farmers Journal visited trial sites across the country viewing the newest varieties, varieties that have become firm favourites and we possibly viewed some that look good now, but will never make it to market for one reason or another.

This year was the last year we will see Planet in trial.

Probably one of the most famous spring barley varieties in the world, Planet lived up to its name suiting many climates and delivering high yields. Now the breeding programmes have used Planet and other varieties to breed even better varieties.

Varieties are constantly improving. Winter barley and winter oilseed rape are two crops which have become highly attractive to grow.

A massive 84% of the winter barley seed in production is made up of varieties with tolerance or resistance to barley yellow dwarf virus, a virus that can seriously reduce yields in crops.

Winter oilseed rape is now seen as at least a 2t/ac crop and the addition of resistance genes for Turnip Yellows Virus, Sclerotinia, pod shatter, stem health, clubroot, as well as nitrogen improvements and Clearfield varieties to help with weeds have given growers confidence.

The subject of the passing of legislation by the EU to allow gene-editing in June came up across the open days. This will be a key tool to help bring varieties that need less pesticides to market, but it will take a good number of years before we get these on the market.

Our seed industry is top class. The variety evaluation programme carried out by the Department of Agriculture provides Irish farmers with varieties of a high standard that they can trust and the seed certification scheme brings high-quality seed.

We hope you enjoy this year’s focus and take note of varieties that interest you ahead of harvest and sowing so you can keep an eye out and try some of them.