Scottish growers stung by high screenings in malting barley

Scottish growers have voiced their dismay as large volumes of barley fall short of the strict standards imposed by maltsters, leaving much of the crop destined for animal feed.

Harvest in Scotland is running several weeks earlier than usual this year, with roughly a third of spring barley cut by mid-August and further progress made in the past week.

UK spring barley yields have been estimated by the AHDB at 5.8t/ha, based on 68% completion up to 20 August, putting it in line with the five-year average.

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However, exceptionally dry weather has reduced grain size and quality, leaving crops struggling to hit malting specifications. Agronomists are reporting screenings of between 10% and 40%.

Traders at Frontier have echoed these findings, citing poor screenings in many samples and a variable Scottish barley crop overall.

This has created issues for growers, with maltsters preferring larger, well-filled grains that offer a higher malt extract potential and lower screenings.

NFU Scotland has warned that if grain fails to meet maltsters’ specifications and is rejected, it could cause a serious loss of income for some businesses.

Questions over quality

Maltsters were already well supplied, with a large carryover from last year, which has led to limited demand and a high rate of rejections.

Scotland’s Farm Advisory Service said: “Malting barley markets continue to reflect the broader narrative of demand weakness.

“Buyers remain cautious, with many end-users already well covered and unwilling to chase the market higher.

“Once again, the continuing surplus of supply in the face of modest demand is likely to keep malting values capped in the near term.”

It is understood that one maltster informed its growers it would be picking up only 70% of the contracted tonnage, as it did not have storage space for more.

A barley grower based in north-east Scotland told Farmers Weekly that because maltsters already had a significant carryover of grain, they were unwilling to offer derogations on the strict specifications.

He said: “If you look back at how many times barley met the specification over the years, I can only count one year in recent memory where it has gone in with no problems at all.

“In a normal year they just relax the specification to get the volume.”

He added that it was impossible to meet the strict specifications every year, and claimed maltsters used it cynically to control the quantity of grain they take in.

An Aberdeenshire farmer reported that some growers had been seeing rejection rates of up to 70%.

They added: “Growers that had locked in at about £200/t for malting barley earlier in the year would now be lucky to get £150/t for it as feed barley.”

High incurred costs and poor returns for barley have left many Scottish arable enterprises questioning whether to drill the crop next year.