Maris Otter Bulletin – July 2020
To All Growers of Maris Otter Malting Barley
With harvest fast approaching please find herewith a few issues to keep abreast of:
Pre-Harvest Round Up
Use of glyphosate (or any pre harvest desiccant) is completely prohibited on Maris Otter. Green grains, secondary tillers and green wheeling’s all look worse than they are and generally disappear in the bulks. Please do not cut crops prematurely, the forecast looks fair and there will undoubtedly be a lull in harvesting after winter barley so best to let the sun do its work, much cheaper for you as well.
Sampling
You will have received various messages from the majority of the grain trade regarding sampling of your grain. Many of you have been doing it yourself for some time and it is clearly a much better, more accurate way of establishing what you have got in your bins/bulks. Please make sure you have discussed with us what method you would like to employ to get samples to us and that you have plenty of sample bags, there is no reason that the process should not be smoother and more accurate than it has been up to now. Any problems please do get in touch with your usual Robin Appel Ltd contact.
Field Records
More and more brewers are asking for field records to further endorse the added value facets of Maris Otter in their malt as well as an increasing interest in provenance etc…This really sets the whole Maris Otter supply chain apart and is something we will see more and more of. My colleague Patrick will be in touch with you to collate these details.
Crop 2021
As the painful effects of global lockdowns make a stuttering retreat and some sort of normality is slowly restored. Maltsters are keen to replenish supplies of malting barley and brewers are looking to increase orders. Maris Otter is no exception and we are seeing healthy demand for Maris Otter for crop 2021. The final demand will probably not become clear until we see the yield and quality of this forthcoming harvest. We look forward to speaking to you on both counts in the next few weeks.
It has been a very strange growing season from the autumn/winter monsoons, the incredibly dry spring and the Coronavirus pandemic, not to mention Brexit! Maris Otter, in its mid 50’s continues to endure and cope with all that is thrown at it, as do we all. We hope for a somewhat easier year ahead.
Best of luck with the harvest and please do make contact if you have any questions/queries, we look forward to seeing what sort of crop you harvest.