Good news for growers, marketers, maltsters, brewers, breeders and beer enthusiasts with the recent malt accreditation of InterGrain’s Commodus​ CL barley.

After Grains Australia’s announcement on 6 March confirming the successful malt accreditation of the Clearfield® barley variety, InterGrain Barley Breeder David Moody expressed enthusiasm, stating that Commodus​ CL’s achievement in the malt category was welcome news for barley growers.

Combining good yield potential with excellent early vigour and quick-mid maturity, Commodus​ CL shares agronomic similarities with Compass and is well suited to lighter soils and medium-low rainfall environments.

“The successful malt story of Commodus​ CL reflects the hard work of InterGrain’s team, including the operations, laboratory, marketing and support staff, plus growers who welcomed the opportunity to support the market development and accreditation processes over the last two seasons.  In addition, the staff of Grains Australia, Pilot Malting Australia, Australian malting companies and Pilot Brewing Australia who participated in the evaluation all need to be thanked for their part of a national effort to assess this variety,” David said.

Reflecting on the experiences of early adopters, David said the positive feedback received from growers was encouraging.

“The uptake of Commodus​ CL over the past few seasons in South Australia and Victoria has been excellent, indicating that the characteristics of Commodus​ CL are what growers in those areas wish to see in a Clearfield® variety,” said David.

Andrew Parker of Balaklava, SA said a significant portion of Commodus barley met malt specifications last season, however growers lacked the option to deliver it as malt.

“Having the opportunity to market it as a malt variety in the upcoming harvest will be advantageous for growers across the southern grain growing region and offer potential price premiums,” Andrew said.

Andrew’s experience in terms of meeting malting specifications was confirmed by NVT trial results.

“Commodus​ CL had one of the highest malt receival rates of all varieties in 2023 NVT trials,” Mr Moody said.

Commodus​ CL barley’s malt accreditation will come into effect in the coming harvest, with Commodus​ CL growers set to reap the benefits of this new development.

Commodus​ CL is available from South Australian and Victorian Seed Club Members. To secure seed, get in touch with your local Territory Managers:

SA Territory Manager Rehn Freebairn.
rfreebairn@intergrain.com
0447 711 905

Victoria Territory Manager Adrian Carter
acarter@intergrain.com
0457 698 466