It is now almost certain that varieties of winter wheat that are Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus (BYDV) tolerant will soon be available on a commercial basis.

And momentum to this end is already growing in Ireland.

One variety of winter wheat with claimed BYDV tolerance is now included within the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) varietal trials programme

This is adding to a growing number of claimed BYDV wheat tolerant varieties now under assessment in the UK.

After a number of years that saw very little genetic progress made in the development of new winter wheat options, it is now clear that Irish tillage farmers can look forward to working with a number of new varieties that can break the glass ceiling in terms of inherent yield capacity and disease resistance.

In addition to the aforementioned BYDV breakthrough, plant breeders have identified gene packages that can deliver high levels of resistance to yellow rust.

These were amongst the main talking points emanating from the recent National Crop Variety Trials Open Day. The event was co-hosted by DAFM and the Irish Seed Trade Association (ISTA).

Last year saw a number of winter wheat varieties break down, regarding their genetic resistance to yellow rust.

Subsequent to this, it was believed that the application of a T0 fungicide chemistry with action against the fungus would be sufficient to control the problem.

However this has turned out not to be the case, with wheat growers in the East of England spraying their crops up to five times over recent weeks in an effort to get on top of the threat posed  by the new variant of the disease.

Harvest 2026

Meanwhile, the start of Harvest 2026 comes ever closer.

The recent hot spell will have brought forward the start of cutting on most farms by up to five days, with crops of the six-row winter barley variety, Joyau almost ready for the combine.

Meanwhile, it is anticipated that a significant number of winter wheat crops grown in Ireland this year will yield particularly well.

However, the impact of BYDV on performance remains the big imponderable. Aphids carrying the virus were particularly active last October, the main planting month for winter wheat.

There is little prospect of cereal yields being broken in Ireland this year.

And with grain prices nothing to write home about, tillage farmers will be hoping for a spell of decent harvest weather that allows them to get on with the work required and the hassle kept to an absolute minimum.