Malting barley growers supplying Boortmalt are calling for flexibility with regard to moisture and protein levels.

The current broken weather is preventing all harvesting for fear of exceeding the delivered maximum moisture of 21.5%. This has not been a major problem up to now but it has become a serious issue in the past week. Growers fear that a continued delay in harvesting could result in a significant deterioration in quality, which could cause further rejection and losses.

Grain quality for malting has been excellent so far this year in respect of protein, screenings, germination and Fusarium levels. There have been some rejections due to excess moisture but issues are now arising in some areas because a big proportion of crops are below the 8.8% cut-off spec for brewing.

In response to this, Boortmalt reduced its minimum protein to 8.6% this week, which has enabled more grain to come within the brewing spec.

Grain with lower protein levels can be accepted for distilling, but some areas currently have a far greater proportion of low protein barley than can be accommodated. But there is a distinct possibility that an amount of higher protein barley may still come on stream when later-planted crops are harvested.

However, low protein may remain an issue until there is a greater knowledge of where the final averages lie, specifically for brewing.

In the meantime, crops that are already harvested are being delivered for feed where moisture is high or where there is no storage capacity.

These are real issues of genuine concern to growers and IFA is to meet with Boortmalt later this week to see if flexibility can be afforded to address these specific issues that are unique to 2015.