As part of Wheat Quality Australia’s ongoing work to improve the competitiveness of Australia’s wheat industry, 12 newly classified wheat varieties and three feed varieties have been announced in the 2018 WQA Wheat Variety Master List – along with the removal of 38 old wheat varieties first flagged for removal in 2016.

The 2018 List introduces Illabo, Sunprime, SEA Condamine, Razor CL Plus, Longsword, EG Titanium, EG Jet, Gold, Cobalt, DS Tull, DS Bennett, DBA Vittaroi, DBA Bindaroi, RGT Zanzibar, and RGT Calabro.

These new releases include Australian Prime Hard, Australian Hard, Australian Premium White, Australian Standard White, Durum and Feed varieties.

This year’s Master List also sees Cutlass upgraded to an Australian Prime Hard in the Northern Zone and DS Faraday classified as Australian Prime Hard in the South Eastern Zone; while Scepter and DS Pascal have been classified as Australian Hard in the Northern Zone, and Sunmate has been upgraded to Australian Hard in the Southern Zone.

B53 has also been classified as Australian Standard White in the Northern Zone.

The range of classes released across all four zones, shows the breadth of new varieties being classified and upgraded to meet a range of market needs.
The 2018/19 Wheat Variety Master List represents the continuation of Wheat Quality Australia’s work over the past five seasons in reviewing varieties more than 10 years old. As a result of this review process, 250 varieties have been flagged for removal, re-classification or changed classification over this period.

“Many of these old varieties represented a tiny percentage of wheat grown in Australia,” Dr Plowman said.
“They are also no longer referenced in any state, industry or GRDC sowing guides, as they have been superseded by new varieties with better agronomic, yield and quality characteristics.

“This is now an ongoing process of updating and refreshing the list, to ensure the quality and competitiveness of Australian wheat worldwide.”
The 38 varieties removed from the Wheat Variety Master List in 2018/19 were first flagged for removal in 2016, and delivered in their existing class up until 2017 – they have now been removed after lengthy consultation with the industry.

Ongoing consultation with industry has also resulted in the down-grade of Kennedy in the Northern Zone from APH to FEED being postponed to 2019, allowing an additional season for growers to adjust. In addition, the removal of Calingiri from ANW has been extended until 2020 to allow the market acceptance and producer uptake of alternatives to be fully assessed.

“Considering competitive pressure coming from Black Sea origins on price and North America on quality, it is important that wheat produced in Australia meets the quality requirements for specific end use applications,” WQA Chairman Dr Don Plowman said.
“WQA continues to work closely with all sectors of the Australian wheat industry to ensure the quality attributes for each class of wheat are directly aligned with end use market requirements.”

The WQA 2018 Wheat Variety Master List is now available from the WQA website at www.wheatquality.com.au. It is also published in the Grain Trade Australia Wheat Standards at www.graintrade.org.au.