Farmer meeting: Growing malting barley in the north-east

A meeting for growers interested in producing malting barley for Boortmalt in the north-east of the country will be held this Thursday (January 17) by Loughran’s Stores.

Loughran’s Stores plans to bring malting barley back to the north-east and grain produced will supply Boortmalt, the largest malting barley intake in the country.

Boortmalt is the second largest producer of malt in Europe and the fifth largest producer of the product in the world.

Many farms in the region would have traditionally grown malting barley, but the crop reduced in area in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

As Boortmalt looks to widen its supplier base the company aims to gain suppliers in counties Louth, Meath and Dublin which would supply barley to Loughran’s Stores.

Loughran’s will supply crop inputs – seed, fertiliser and pesticides. Agronomic advice will be provided by Conroy Crop Services.

Grain will be paid for at the full Boortmalt contract price, once it passes the required specifications.

The meeting will be held this Thursday (January 17) at 11:00am at the Monasterboice Inn, outside Drogheda, Co. Louth.

Boortmalt expansion

Last year, Boortmalt announced that it was looking for 50,000t – from 125,000t to 175,000t – of extra malting barley and was planning to expand its maltings plant in Athy, Co. Kildare.

Also Read: Tillage focus: Boortmalt looking for 50,000t of malting barley

This increase was to come by 2019. However, last year’s drought resulted in low-yielding spring barley crops and production was down across the country.