UK: This year suggested per hectare barley crop at 2005 level

Prolonged hot, dry, summer weather in Britain has predictable results, The Scotsman posted July 29.

On the credit side, winter barley growers have enjoyed the earliest general start in a generation - and in 1976 the acreage of this crop grown, certainly in the north of England and Scotland, was much lower than now.

On the debit side, there are fears for spring barley yields, sown late because of a cold, wet spring, and hit by the dry spell as grains were starting to fill.

Estimates of winter barley yields with an estimated 70 per cent of the crop cut in England and Scotland suggest they are close to last year's final average of 6.5 tonnes per hectare.

Quality is reported as average to "better than expected" and price prospects for malting quality have risen.

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