To All Growers of Malting Barley
Well the last week or two has given us the rainfall that we ideally needed a few weeks ago, too late for some crops in some areas but has no doubt done some good for many. Tiller numbers are not what they should be in many crops following the searing heat but there are now some watchpoints which we will cover later on.
Hot, sunny weather is forecast again over the weekend and next week, the sun is good, the heat not so much. We were anticipating a very early winter barley harvest but had changed our minds on that, we may need to change them again after next week and we expect to see some east Anglian winters cut in the first week of July, maybe before.
The malting barley market is still very tricky to negotiate but some signs of life are slowly flickering, please see below:
Winter Barley
The market is dominated now by the new variety Buccaneer, higher yielding than Craft and Flagon, the variety looks set to perform well again. Market demand remains limited with no export potential and only a few maltsters with it on their requirement list, that may change given the second dry spring in succession, we shall see.
Maris Otter demand looks to have plateaued out and retains a very loyal following amongst craft and regional brewers in the UK and overseas. Some of these brewers are bucking the trend and sales are holding up in a very tricky market, they are also diversifying into different beer types such as lo/no alcohol etc…
We will have demand for both Otter and Buccaneer for crop 2027 please do enquire when you are looking at 2027 cropping plans.
Spring Barley
Laureate remains out on its own as the No 1 spring malting variety, Skyway has been and gone (as we predicted) . The only two new varieties that are anywhere close to making it commercially are Belter (Secobra) and Arrow (RAGT), 2027 will be their first commercial year subject to approvals etc , both varieties are dual purpose (malting and distilling) , we will keep you posted as to how they get on and what the commercial uptake by the industry is like. Worth keeping your eye on Ptarmigan as well, looks high quality, high yielding and early.
Markets
With no rain in sight and temperatures soaring throughout the Uk and europe a week or so ago, the European market rallied to season highs and the domestic market followed . As you can imagine there were no sellers given the parlous state of the spring barley crop with it dropping tillers and racing through its growth stages. Then came the rain and the market has dropped alongside the wider wheat market which has also soaked up the news around rainfall and markets have turned bearish. Coupled with this the French harvest is underway with some promising early results, all this against a backdrop of reduced demand and low malt off-take.
However when you drill down into it there are some flickering signs of life, we will chat through this in more detail at our annual malting barley event, details below:
Date: 8th July
Time: 4.30pm
Venue: Moor Court Farm, Sparsholt, Winchester
Somewhat later than usual but it will follow the usual format and will be a very interesting and informative evening.
An invitation will follow this bulletin.
Harvest Protocols
Every year we are getting more and more accurate sample results as you put more effort into taking good samples as crops come into store, it is way more accurate and quicker than us sending numerous samplers out to stick spears in heaps. Please retain your focus on this, even during the height of harvest, it really helps us to get a true picture of exactly what you have in your stores and helps to avoid unwanted and increasingly expensive issues.
You will soon receive sample bags and freepost envelopes , please label these accurately and send off to our labs, we should be able to turn results around very promptly. If you need to find out quality sooner than that please do bring samples to either Waltham Chase or to Fisherton grain store, both venues have fully equipped, TASCC accredited labs.
It goes without mentioning to ensure stores are cleaned down, treated and rested in advance of harvest and we would ask you to be extra vigilant of the presence of ergot given the conditions during flowering.
Secondary tillering following the drought and subsequent rain will very likely become an issue, we will keep you updated on this but would re-iterate that pre harvest use of glyphosate is often unecessary.
Likewise please do ensure that your moisture meters are fully calibrated and that you re- calibrate them against new crop barley samples-your farm meters generally read below new crop barley in the critical ranges and therefore extra vigilance around this again saves any unwanted issues and associated costs.
We hope to see you either at Groundswell or at Moor Court Farm and wish you all the very best for a dry and successful harvest.
As always if you have any issues or would like to raise any points please do let us know.
