Neo, a new barley variety introduced by Agriculture and Food Minister Jackie Jarvis is being hailed as ‘the one’ to take Australian barley production to the next level.
The high-performance variety Neo – the Greek word for new – is expected to raise yields by 10%, potentially increasing the value of the national barley sector by $110 million annually.
“Neo barley reflects its name – a modern variety, ahead of its time and bred using the latest plant breeding technology to generate a leap in production and malting performance,” Minister Jarvis said.
“This new variety will support Australia’s reputation as a global leader in supplying high quality barley to discerning domestic and export markets,” Minister Jarvis added.
According to the Western Australian (WA) Government, the variety, recently submitted for malting barley certification, is well adapted to medium to high rainfall areas, with good pest and disease resistance and superior grain quality attributes.
InterGrain, a locally based breeding enterprise co-owned by the WA Government and the Grains Research and Development Corporation, developed Neo.
The naturally developed variety results from the Cereal Doubled Haploid Program of the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, which has accelerated the establishment of breeding lines appropriate to Australian conditions.
Neo is InterGrain’s 12th barley variety to be launched, joining a cereal lineup that includes a variety of Australian hard and noodle wheat lines and oats.
InterGrain is expanding to a plant breeding facility at Murdoch University‘s biosecurity and research centre, a new facility in Horsham, Victoria. It is also constructing a seed production facility in Narrabri, NSW.
To guarantee that new varieties meet market standards, the company works closely with the Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre (AEGIC), co-owned by the WA Government and Grains Australia.
“Our Government is pleased to be partnering with InterGrain and AEGIC to back research and development that supports WA growers and the broader industry to remain internationally competitive now and into the future,” Minister Jarvis said.
