Boortmalt’s first forward selling opportunity occurred this week, with €190/t the price obtained on Wednesday for malting barley under the new deal reported on last week.

There will be further opportunities in each of the next two weeks.

Whether farmers exercise such an option remains to be seen.

Fears that grain will fail to meet specification grow with every passing day as spring crops shrink in the sun.

At Monday’s meeting for malt growers in Carlow, pessimism for the spring crop abounded.

Yield projections

Yield projections of 5t/ha (2t/acre) and lower were made for crops that exhibited serious potential only a few weeks ago. Straw yields of around half what would be hoped for were being spoken of.

Glanbia has already adjusted its winter malt barley specifications with maximum screenings from 2% up to 10%, maximum protein up from 12% to 12.5%, and bushel weight from 63 to 62.

Even at that, some barley is struggling to meet the bushel weight.

All farmers cutting are reminded to guard against fire, with a water or slurry tanker in the field a good backup to fire extinguishers.

Field report

In the fields the majority of spring barley crops are now under pressure.

The worst affected crops are largely concentrated in the south and south east. Plants are short, thin and are ripening prematurely due to the drought and high temperatures.

Many of these crop have received little to no rain since the time of planting. However, further north in pockets of counties like Kildare and up in the north-west crops still look good.

Many growers, are now questioning the benefit from rain at this stage as moisture could cause more problems than good through the promotion of secondary tillers.