EU: Spring barley area may be capped by unfavourable weather this year

Heavy rain and late-winter freezes may cap an expected rise in the European Union's spring barley area this year as they hamper field work, Reuters reported on March 16.

Spring barley is among the first cereals to be sown at the end of winter in Europe and provides most of the barley used for making malt.

Incessant rain in autumn forced farmers in northern Europe to cut back on winter wheat, leaving more room for spring crops. But soggy soil conditions and another cold spell from this weekend could curb sowing of barley and lead farmers to switch some areas to later-sown crops like maize.

In France, spring barley sowing was running slightly behind last year's pace, according to farming agency FranceAgriMer.

Some farmers were facing saturated soils after national rainfall this winter was 50 percent above average.

"Because of the rain, the favourable window for barley sowing is narrowing and the upcoming frosts, even if they are shortlived, bring another constraint," Remi Haquin, a farmer and head of FranceAgriMer's grains committee, said.

Snows in late February and persistent rain this month have brought spring planting in Britain to a virtual halt.

"By the time they (farmers) get going they are likely to be a month behind in fieldwork," said Jack Watts, chief combinable crops adviser at the National Farmers' Union.

"There is still time to recover but it is less than ideal," he added.

A planting survey by Britain's Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board estimated the spring barley area would rise 7 percent this year to 804,000 hectares.

The shift to spring crop is partly to tackle blackgrass weeds.

In Germany, damp soils and the looming cold spell were also raising uncertainty about field work, although analysts still expect a sharp rise in the spring crop area.

Spring sowing was getting under way in most of the country.

"This is a few days behind schedule but not serious, although with spring grains with their short time to harvest, naturally every day is important," one German analyst said.

Germany's association of farm cooperatives on March 15 estimated the spring barley area would expand 12.4 percent from last year to 381,000 hectares.

In Poland, spring sowing has generally not yet started yet, so is already running slightly late, said Wojtek Sabaranski of analysts Sparks Polska.

Sabaranski estimates farmers will sharply increase the spring barley area to around 800,000 hectares from 720,000 hectares last year, after wet weather curtailed winter wheat sowing last autumn like in Germany.

But maize should also benefit, he said.

"We expect that likely difficult soil conditions prevailing in early spring in fields ... will translate into a clear increase in maize acreage."

E-malt.com, the global information source for the brewing and malting industry professionals. The bi-weekly E-malt.com Newsletters feature latest industry news, statistics in graphs and tables, world barley and malt prices, and other relevant information. Click here to get full access to E-malt.com. If you are a Castle Malting client, you can get free access to E-malt.com website and publications. Contact us for more information at marketing@castlemalting.com .