First the maltings, now the barley?

[jcskinner]

Irish grain down 16% in one year.
The maltings are as good as gone already. Is Irish barley the next endangered part of our indigenous heritage which is essential to whiskey-distilling?

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0621/crops.html

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Hopefully this IS down to woeful weather conditions we experienced last year and not the fact that Irish cereal growers are finding it harder and harder to make it worth their while to grow crops due to the meager prices they are fectching for cereals. The price per ton for cereals has virtually stay stagnant for growers in Ireland in the last 20 years yet we hear from the big multinationals that buy the grain saying that prices have increased.

By the way is Minch malt gone I knew it was sold off by greencore but heard no further.

[TheWhiskeyBro]

Looks like it is weather related,

Area under crop for barley has increased the last two years, but 2009 yields fell versus the previous year,
http://www.cso.ie/releasespublications/ ... ypcrop.pdf

Over to our agricultural correspondent for a detailed explanation on the growth cycle for barley, and the impact of precipation and hours of sunshine on yields in the barley sector...