E-Malt.com News article: 3154

UK: Scotland’s biggest buyer of malting barley said on Monday, August 31, 2004 that quality has not suffered as much as expected during the wettest August on record, according to The Scotsman. But drying barley to a useable moisture content will be a long, expensive business said Allan Mcdonald of distiller Diageo. Speaking after a weekend of variable weather - although good compared with much that had gone before - that had seen combines working throughout most of Scotland, Mcdonald said: "Early samples of malting barley we have seen had obviously suffered from east coast haar, but they are perfectly usable.

"We are also relatively happy with what we have seen from inland crops. Nitrogen levels are low, the grain size is excellent and there are no problems with screenings [small and shrivelled grains]." However, he said, most crops have been harvested at more than 20 % moisture content, some at 24 % or more, and drying down to 16 % will be slow and expensive.

Drying too quickly can damage the good germination essential for malting. With much grain cut in haste and dumped on floors wherever there is space, in-heap heating also has to be avoided.

There are anecdotal reports of a £20 per tonne premium for malting quality over feed barley in parts of England, but much of the Scottish malting potential crop is grown on a contract with premium related to feed price - and feed prices are well below £60 per tonne ex-farm at present.

Further bad news, if the Scottish crop quality suffers further, is that the European Union as a whole, where many countries have had reasonable harvests, is likely to have a surplus of 1.56 million tonnes of malting barley.

Even with combining sporadically under way in most areas of the UK over the weekend and yesterday, rain-damaged crops and wet ground continue to cause problems.

Belated attempts by farmers to fit tracks to combines have failed because the makers have no more in stock. Some growers have fitted extra-wide tyres instead, probable cost £3,500 to more than £6,000 and tracks can be ordered for certain combine models for next year at about £16,000 a set. As any spell of dry weather brings a rush of activity, demand for combines from machinery rings has reached record levels.


01 September, 2004