Malting barley growers agreed a pricing structure with Boortmalt for next year at a growers’ meeting in Bunclody last week.

One of the main changes with the agreement is the chance to sell forward once a week on Wednesdays. Selling can be done online, so farmers will have the opportunity to examine and assess their position on an ongoing basis. Forward selling for 2016 has already begun, with a price of €176/t available in the first offer.

Being a Boortmalt growers’ meeting, there inevitably was some ill feeling and accusations, with former negotiation team chair Mark Browne strongly refuting claims that he stored grain for Boortmalt. He explained that he had rented his shed for some years now to a third party.

In previous years, the third party had stored feeding grain there, but in 2015 stored malting barley for Boortmalt – nothing directly to do with Mark Browne.

This failed to fully appease his critics, but it’s hard to imagine anything would.