Watch: a day in a processing plant during harvest

Across the board, extreme heat this summer is having knock-on effects to various agricultural sectors.

According to John Dalton of Dalton’s Chancellors Mills, when it comes to malting barley, it has resulted in decreased yields and increased rejection rates.

“The barley yields are back, the spring barley yields are probably back as well, wheat is back and the oilseed rape seems to be the only winner this year,” he says.

Dalton's Chancellors Mills is a family-owned agri-merchant business dating back to 1870 with operations in Kilkenny, Cullohill, Co Laois and a purpose-built grain processing plant in Athy, Co Kildare.

Intake

Each harvest season it processes around 50,000 tonnes of malting barley and while it had reached 50% of its intake already, it should be finished by the end of next week.

John says the nitrogen hasn’t been absorbed in the grain when it was filling, which is likely a reason behind the high protein and increased rejection rates of about 25%, so far.

“The proteins are higher this year due to the hot weather, it was always a possibility that this would happen. Hopefully we get enough grain anyway for the contract and that next year will be better again,” says John.

Watch John take us through the processing plant here: