The UK barley harvest is almost over and provisional estimates suggest the yield is 20 per cent lower than average. Furthermore, the quality of barley may make life difficult for brewers, particularly in the flourishing artisanal beers industry. image expired

Nitrogen levels in the barley harvested this year have caused concern for maltsters and brewers. Whilst most large-scale and lager breweries should be able to adjust their recipes to account for barley quality, microbreweries and brewers using traditional methods may struggle as they rely more heavily on using top-quality raw materials.

Jonathan Arnold, of Southampton based grain merchant Robin Appel, said the situation is comparable across much of the Northern hemisphere, with Denmark, France and Germany all having suffered through wet harvest weather which has affected crop quality in Northern Europe.  The Wet harvests have produced low quality crops, meaning maltsters are more likely to blend.

Nevertheless, although winter barley crops certainly struggled in 2011, NFU data released today shows the later maturing spring barley crop may have benefitted from summer rain in England, as production is reportedly above the five year average.

The union’s figures show that part of the reason the winter barley yield is down is a 10 per cent drop in plantings compared to the 5 year average. Spring barley production has increased by around 4 per cent in the UK, though there has reportedly been no change in yield.

Ian Backhouse, the NFU combinable crops chair, said, "The key to understanding the impact for farmers from these results is the huge variability in yields we have seen this year, far more than in recent years. Some members have seen field or even whole farm record production in 2011, while others have had one of the poorest harvests on record.

"I believe this year’s overall winter barley yield decrease was largely due to tough growing conditions last spring, including one of the lowest ever rainfall levels recorded for the first half of the year across the majority of England."