Highland Specialty Grains does a lot of research with wheat. The owners of Highland Specialty Grains have an interest in providing farmers with the best wheat varieties available, so they have been instrumental in planting advanced line trials in eastern Washington in cooperation with both public and private wheat breeding programs.
Our Varieties…
On the breeding side, Highland Specialty Grains is focused on serving smaller segments of the wheat market that are often overlooked by other breeders. Currently there are opportunities to license two Hard Red Winter Wheat varieties and several Hard Red Spring Wheat varieties from Highland Specialty Grains.
Kairos is a HRW Wheat variety that has been grown for several years in central and eastern Washington, mainly under irrigation. Kairos is a short, upright variety that produces high quality grain. It matures several days earlier than LCS Jet or Keldin. Kairos has excellent resistance to stripe rust, better than Keldin or LCS Jet.
HSG 124 is a new HRW Wheat. Foundation seed will be available in 2025. HSG 124 stands well like Kairos and LCS Jet. HSG 124 also has excellent resistance to rust like Kairos. Yields of HSG 124 are very good when compared to LCS Jet and Keldin.
Highland Specialty Grains is releasing a new Hard Red Spring variety, HSG Timberline. Registered seed of HSG Timberline will be available in the fall of 2025. HSG Timberline has excellent cold tolerance for a spring wheat. It was among the few varieties which survived the harsh winter of 2023-24 in fall-planted DNS test plots in the Columbia Basin. Along with better cold tolerance, yield and protein are also an improvement over other spring varieties being planted in the fall in the Columbia Basin region. It also does well when planted in the spring. Seed is now available so give HSG Timberline a try!
Highland Specialty Grains also has several other Hard Red Spring varieties available for licensing. The varieties are similar to WB 9668 with better yield. Please let us know if you are interested in growing one of our varieties of wheat or if you would like Highland Specialty Grains to develop wheat specifically for your needs.