As farming in Wales has specialised in favour of livestock, the growing of cereals has declined. Reversing this decline in mixed farming has benefits for wildlife in increasing habitat diversity, and for the visual appeal of our countryside – imagine a field of barley, gently rippling in the breeze of a summer evening, against the backdrop of Snowdonia. Looking anew at cereals such as oats, rye and barley, which have been neglected in the cereal growing regions of the UK, could provide exciting opportunities.

Last year, as part of MENTERRA, farmers in Gwynedd grew naked oats. These contain beta-glucan fibres, which are valuable for the health food market as they can lower blood sugar and cholesterol, and boost the immune system. Both winter and spring varieties are being grown again this summer at Bangor’s Henfaes Research Centre, together with naked barley and Einkorn wheat. Naked or hulless barley also contains beta-glucans, and we are testing varieties from Germany, Sweden and the Czech Republic, to see how they perform in the Welsh climate. Einkorn wheat was the first type of wheat to be domesticated around 10,000 years ago. It is high in beta-carotene, and has a different type of gluten, so may be eaten by some people with an intolerance to bread wheat. In the autumn, we plan to test a golden rye variety from Germany, and Triticale. Triticale, a hybrid of wheat and rye, is familiar to farmers as a feed grain, although it contains a better balance of amino acids than wheat, and could be used to make healthier bread.

All these crops can be grown with lower inputs of fertilizer and pesticides than bread wheat. They are also better adapted to some of the poorer soils found in Gwynedd, and to the possible effects of climate change. For example rye and oats can grow on acid soils, and barley and rye are more drought tolerant than wheat.

Dr. Edward Dickin
University of Wales Bangor

There was a positive start to the season for the 16 farms that were undertaking trials on Naked Oats and Linseed.

The naked oats proved comparatively easy to grow and harvest notwithstanding the bad weather during August and September. None of the farmers encountered any difficulty combining, but some difficulties were encountered when the straw was baled as the stalks of straw are fairly short. Another difficulty was that the inclement weather had caused much of the seeds to fall to the ground and by mid October the naked oats had re-established and were growing profusely in the fields, however it is possible to graze it at a time of year when other grazing land is bare.

Harvesting linseed proved to be more difficult compared with the naked oats for a number of reasons; the seed was very small and fell easily from the combine to the trailer. Because of the nature of the fibre of linseed straw, combining proved more difficult because the straw tangled in the blades of some types of combine, perhaps it would be a good idea in the future to consider using a Stripper header on the combine when harvesting Linseed and cutting the crop higher , causing less problems with the straw tangling. The importance of adding weedkiller at the appropriate time, became clear with the 2004 Linseed trials because if weedkiller is added after the flower has formed, there is a danger that the crop will be damaged.

A sample of the yield of every farm will be used for a variety of further trials by the University of Wales Bangor and Bic Innovations