Germany
August 8, 2014
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This year’s German spring barley harvest began in mid-July, right after the malting barley inspection tours. The Braugersten-Gemeinschaft’s initial 2014 German crop forecast was based on assessments compiled at the time of these tours, as well as on early actual crop samples that were gathered and at peak crop development during an earlier prolonged dry spell.
Since then, however, a period of showers, downpours, rainstorms, and even hail, has caused significant delays in harvesting activity in most regions and has turned these early projections into just one of many sets of data that need to be considered when making an overall assessment of this year’s German harvest results. This is especially true for an assessment of the quality of this year’s crop. In fields that were harvest-ready before the onset of bad weather, but then could not be harvested until the rains had cleared, some crops showed hidden signs of vernalization.
Some 347,000 hectares (ha) were planted with spring barley, in Germany, in 2014. Of these, some 270,000 ha had been intended for malting-quality barley. In early-harvest areas, the yield was, indeed, quite good and is currently pegged at roughly 5.2 metric tons (MT) per ha. Extrapolated for the entire harvest in all of Germany, this early value translates, at least hypothetically, into an overall spring barley yield for all uses of roughly 1.8 million MT.
Spring conditions in 2014 varied greatly in Germany. Generally, however, rainfall was below average. Depending on soil conditions, this lack of moisture led to drought damage, which manifested itself in very heterogeneous quality levels in the lots that had already been harvested. Regions with extensive precipitation in May, on the other hand, experienced considerable yields, but with extreme variations in barley quality. Not surprisingly, this year’s average protein levels for Germany are slightly above the unusually low levels of last year. Regionally, however, state brewing barley associations report great variations in protein values. Some large fields in Hesse and Lower Saxony, for instance, yielded crops with values below 9%, while other fields produced barley with 11 to 11.5% protein. These values suggest that it is unlikely that any barley will be rejected for malting purposes because of excess protein values this year.
Plumpness values from early harvest samples range slightly below those of the previous year. Because of low plumpness values in many fields, some barley that had initially been planted as brewing barley will now be sold directly as feed barley, especially in regions that also experienced drought damage.
At the time of this report, roughly half of all German spring barley plantings have been harvested. Based on data available thus far, the Braugersten-Gemeinschaft predicts a total spring barley harvest of about 1.8 million MT. By the time the entire harvest will be complete, depending on conditions for the second half of the harvest, the portion of spring barley that is likely to be suitable for malting is currently estimated at around 1.2 million MT. The main malting barley varieties under cultivation in 2014 have been Grace, Propino, and Quench. The first malting barley harvest report based on actuals for Germany in 2014 will probably be published near the end of September.
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