EU: Maltsters and grain growers have met to discuss the possible effects of the European Union’s common agricultural policy change on cereal supplies, Business Scotsman revealed on December 9. Effectively, farmers’ union leaders asked the Maltsters Association of Great Britain to give "clear and positive" price signals to farmers who, from next year, do not have to grow grain to get a single farm payment.

David Houghton, NFU Scotland’s combinable crops chairman, said on December 8 that their case has been given added weight by a forecast 20 % drop in England’s winter barley area. There could be a similar slump in Scotland if malting prices stay low. Houghton said that maltsters shared farmers’ concerns: "They, too, face price pressure further up the chain. But they can do what farmers can’t and pass their costs down. If we don’t receive a price that reflects production costs and allows for reinvestment, what do we gain by another year of cereal growing?”

12 December, 2004