The past fortnight has seen both Diageo and Boortmalt confirming their growing commitment to Ireland’s malting barley sector.
The backdrop for these developments was the 2023 Diageo Boortmalt Irish Malting Barley Excellence Awards held at the Guinness Storehouse.
Peter Nallen, chief operations and agriculture officer at Boortmalt, confirmed that further investment is planned for the company’s malting facility at Athy in Co Kildare.
“The new development programme will further enhance the capacity of Athy up to 200,000t per annum,” he said.
“When completed, this will constitute a doubling of the site’s capacity, relative to 2010 when Boortmalt took control of the site.
“Our two passions for the business are innovation and sustainability. With this in mind, I can also confirm that our expansion for Athy will be carbon neutral,” he added.
Nallen explained that this would be achieved with the development of innovative technologies, focusing on the use of heat pumps, all of which have been developed in-house and are now patented.
Malting barley
According to Nallen, the spring barley season that was 2023 was extremely challenging.
He cited the major split in the planting season with the months that followed throwing up major challenges with regard to crop yields and quality.
“But despite all of these problems, growers and the rest of the supply chain still managed to do what is needed,” he said.
Nallen also referenced Boortmalt’s ongoing commitment to a transparent pricing model for malting barley growers.
He said: “We believe the current pricing system to be very fair. It is very transparent, giving farmers direct control over the pricing of the grain that they produce.”
Diageo
Meanwhile, Diageo is confirming that its commitment to develop a new €200 million brewery at Newbridge in Co. Kildare remains a priority.
Aidan Crowe, operations director at Saint James’s Gate Brewery, also spoke at the Malting Barley Excellence Awards ceremony.
He confirmed that Diageo remains committed to reducing the carbon footprint of its entire operation.
According to Crowe, the adoption of regenerative agricultural practices by farmers will be a key part of this strategy moving forward.
He added: “Our farm trials in this area continue apace. It is our intention to make the results of this work widely available.”
Reflecting on the quality of the barley produced during the 2023 harvest, Crowe confirmed its suitability from a brewing perspective.
“This is despite all the challenges that confronted growers last year. We are currently using a 50:50 mix of 2022 and 2023 barley. And, so far, everything has gone according to plan.”
Last year 1.3 billion pints of Guinness were brewed at St James’s Gate.