Ireland’s largest maltster Boortmalt could be facing into a shortfall of Irish malting barley this season. A difficult growing season and a very poor harvest has led to high levels of rejections of the Irish malting crop this year, across all maltsters.

In a statement to the Irish Farmers Journal, Boortmalt confirmed that approximately 60% of the barley presented to them met the required specification.

“Harvest was very challenging and we have been careful to ensure the quality requirements for barley have been maintained so we can assure the food safety and quality of our malt to our customers,” the maltster said.

Rejections

The main reasons for rejections were in relation to skinning, poor germination capacity and high protein.

Broken weather over the duration of the harvest meant that many growers missed the optimal timing for harvesting, cutting the crop in sub-optimal conditions.

This is on top of a difficult season where growers in the main malting barley-producing regions had to contend with drought, followed by wet weather and secondary growth.

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The consequences of this year’s difficult growing season and harvest are being felt by both growers and maltsters.