Seed Update - SY Cheer

UK Flour Millers has announced that the Syngenta winter wheat variety "SY Cheer" is confirmed as a full UKFM Group 1 variety, upgrading its provisional rating from 2023

The UK Flour Millers Varieties Working Group (VWG), comprised of representatives from the largest flour milling businesses in the United Kingdom (UK), met in early September 2024 to discuss the wheat, milling, and baking quality data of SY Cheer from 2024 crop samples, as well as assessments from the previous three years of testing. Following a consensus agreement the group has exercised its sole right to assign the industry-recognised UFKM group rating. This is the first winter wheat to be given a Group 1 rating since KWS Zyatt in 2017.

UK Flour Millers head of technical and regulatory affairs, Joe Brennan said, “Over the four years of testing, this variety showed good protein, high specific weight, and a strong gluten quality. The baking performance was good, although slight variation has been seen.

“Whilst the Group ratings assigned by the VWG relate only to the functional quality of the variety from a milling and baking perspective, some of the agronomic features of this variety are a welcome sight, in particular the excellent disease resistance profile and the strong grain analytical quality, which should help increase the chances of meeting the mill intake specification and achieve the full premium.”

The popularity of Group 1 wheat varieties has been in decline, dropping from 31% of the wheat area in 2020 to only 24% in 2024. This has contributed to a deficit in supply of homegrown breadmaking wheat, with millers having to rely more on imports. Mr Brennan said, “As a new Group 1, we hope SY Cheer may help reverse this trend and significantly increase the supply of quality UK wheat.”