New research is looking at the potential of renewing the milling wheat industry in Ireland.

Noel Banville from Foulksmills, Co Wexford, held a farm walk last Tuesday in collaboration with the Irish Farmers' Association to present his research to date on examining different wheat varieties and agronomic techniques to decipher links between wheat agronomy and quality flour production.

This research forms part of his PhD, which he is carrying out in UCD titled 'Quality wheat markets - an agronomic and economic analysis of wheat varieties for suitability in an Irish milling industry'.

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Banville is now into his third year of the trials, following two successful years of growing different milling wheat varieties and running different nitrogen programmes in counties Wexford and Meath.

After two years of trials, he believes Ireland has the potential to grow varieties of wheat suitable for milling.

In Ireland, we currently depend on about 80% to 90% imports for flour, which is poor for domestic food security, he said.

The aim of his project is to investigate whether the milling wheat varieties can be grown in Ireland, if they’re stable and if they can be grown at a sustainable nitrogen rate.

There are a limited number of recommended spring wheat varieties in Ireland at the moment.

However, Banville is looking at 15 different varieties, including both current feed varieties on the recommended list and milling varieties which could be suitable for a milling wheat industry in Ireland.

The proof is in the pudding

The next step of his PhD involves baking the different samples of wheat into test loaves of bread in Teagasc Ashtown food research centre.

“The proof is in whether it makes a decent loaf of bread,” he said.

Banville hopes that his research can contribute to reintroducing a milling wheat industry back into Ireland and to provide a value-added opportunity for tillage farmers.

In February 2026, an initiative to financially back new flour mills in Ireland was announced by the Government, with a maximum of €5m available for each of up to three separate projects.

It will be overseen by Enterprise Ireland, which will engage directly with firms considering new or expanded milling operations of scale.

Additionally, planning permission has been accepted for Ballycarney Grain in Co Wexford to build a new flour mill with hopes of taking in Irish wheat in 2027.

For more on Noel Banville's research listen below: