Three new wheat varieties sum up the changes to the 2017 winter cereal recommended lists. The lists, which were published earlier this week, see Rockefeller, Costello and Garrus added to the winter wheat list with provisional recommendation. Avatar, JB Diego, KWS Lili and KWS Lumos are fully recommended, while Dunmore, Leeds and Weaver have been dropped.

This year, two of the new entries have a three-year yield rating of less than 100 – Costello (99) and Rockefeller (98). This is the first time in years when a new variety came on to the list with less than 100 for yield and it reflects the increasing need to weight up the commercial value of the many other varietal characteristics.

Rockefeller has long straw but it also has very good septoria resistance, which is increasingly important given the challenges to our current septoria fungicides. It adds essential resilience to septoria control, which is an evolving issue.

Costello is also good against ear blight (7), sprouting (8) and most foliar diseases but it is about average against septoria (5). However, it has good straw and really good specific weight combined with big grain size.

It is worth noting that there have only been four varieties that have been rated an 8 for sprouting resistance since 1994. It is showing one of the highest values for specific weight (79.9 KPH) seen on the list over the past two decades.

There are no major changes on the winter barley list, except that Infinity and Quadra have been given full recommendation. Neither are there any changes on the winter oat list, except that Vodka has been fully recommended.