Barley believable: an extraordinary harvest

4Robin Appel Ltd are owners of the south of England’s only remaining traditional floor maltings. They are also grain merchants and co-own the Maris Otter barley variety, a cross between Proctor and Pedigree, which they helped save from oblivion in 1982. Maris Otter is the only barley ever to be created specifically for brewing and it commands a price premium over other malting barley varieties. It is the only winter-sown variety grown to achieve low-grain nitrogens (lower protein for ale production, especially in more traditional breweries, avoiding protein haze) and is grown under contract. Maris Otter is sown in Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Shropshire, Yorkshire and Cornwall – mainly on limestone-based less fertile soils. Here, Jonathan Arnold, Robin Appel malting barley buyer, gives an insight into the barley market at the end of an extraordinary year.

l Jonathan Arnold

Following a truly bizarre growing season, farmers and maltsters arrived at harvest time uncertain as to barley yields, nitrogen levels or quality. With record drought during April and May, followed by deluges in June and July, price jitters were the norm as unpredictable weather patterns made harvests uncertain throughout Europe.

As the UK’s combines rolled in early July, maltsters were presently surprised by the quality of the first winter barleys. Although in appearance they looked rather pale and washed out, the nitrogens were good, yields were acceptable and grain size was generally okay. In normal years, the very early crops (often from drought-affected soils) are used for feed; but, as with most things this year, the harvest was not following previous form.

As it progressed, albeit slowly due to the rain, the quality deteriorated, grain nitrogens got higher and grain size and weight got smaller. However, Maris Otter proved largely resilient to the season and produced some wonderful samples, and yields were mainly pleasing. In conclusion, the winter-sown barley harvest was generally better than expected, though quality was variable.

Following the drought in March/April, a lot of barley crops aborted tillers (new growths) as plants struggled to survive with so little moisture available; they then shot for the sky in a desperate attempt to reproduce. This made them very leggy and prone to falling over due to a sudden growth spurt. But when the drought ended at the beginning of May, the rains never stopped and this encouraged crops to throw out secondary tillers to compensate for the ones they had lost earlier in the season.

These remained viable due to the volume of rain that fell, but created what were, in effect, two-tier crops. Growers, therefore, had to decide whether to cut the crop while a large percentage of it was unripe, or to wait for them to even up (using the time to harvest other weather-vulnerable crops, such as milling wheat.)

The rains then arrived, and many combines sat for nearly a fortnight without being able to turn a wheel, though the unseasonably cool temperatures meant that pre-germination had been kept to a minimum. But spring barley yields were still adversely affected both by the flattening of weak-strawed varieties (like Optic) and the lack of sunshine, which contributed to smaller ears.

As barley yields were low, it became apparent that wheat was going the same way, right across northern Europe. This has resulted in the wheat price rocketing skywards to record highs around the globe, exacerbated recently with the ongoing drought in Australia. This time last year wheat was struggling to make £80 per tonne; this year the contract high stands close to £190 per tonne. The market outlook remains generally bullish as outside influences look to soft commodities as a good profit opportunity and therefore help to create the very volatile market conditions we are currently experiencing.

Conclusions

The implications of this price rise for malting barley are enormous, with farmers focused on maximising their acreages of wheat and break crops (rape/beans/peas/linseed/borage) and therefore choosing not to grow malting barley. However, Appel’s has managed to place the required area of Maris Otter for 2008, with a substantially higher price than seen recently. Without this the variety would be dead as growers choose higher yielding, less risky options. However, those who grow Otter are among the best growers in the UK and enjoy growing for a real market, as long as the increased risk is rewarded.

From the lows of two years ago, when malt prices were on their knees, the market has bounced back dramatically and looks set to stay that way. Retaining good growers on good malting barley ground will be Appel’s focus over the coming months, for both winter and spring barley and, with wheat set to be well above £100 per tonne for the foreseeable future, malting barley prices will need to be more than competitive to encourage growers to keep growing the crop.

2008 will see Robin Appel concentrating on the flavours of Maris Otter from differing terroirs.

December 20, 2007