UK farmers produce about 7.3 million tonnes of barley each year, worth around £1 billion, of which a quarter is used for brewing and distilling and he remainder for animal feed. However, since the late 1990s, UK farmers growing barley have seen the yields and quality of their harvests hurt by an emerging disease called Ramularia leaf spot, caused by the pathogenic fungus Ramularia collo-cygni.

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