Harvest Review 2025. 

We have just recorded the hottest summer on record, so it is not surprising that our harvest has been one of the earliest in the last 20 years. The sun came out in the third week of February – it has almost been wall to wall sunshine ever since – and the combine harvesters were out before the end of June. It is not what we are used to.

The problem has been that our beautiful summer has hardly been punctuated by any rainfall. Barley crops respond to rains in May, and, for the most part they did not get them. For those crops on moisture retentive soils, like the chalk soils that surround Warminster, barleys have endured. On lesser soils, like the Cotswold brash, and the sandier soils of East Anglia, they have not. So the overall outcome is somewhat like the ‘curates egg’, good in places, but high nitrogen’s and high screenings elsewhere. 

First off the fields have been the winter barleys, ahead of the warmest weather curve. Much of this crop has produced yields in line with the 5 year average, including Maris Otter, but with grain nitrogen content which varies between parcels, with some too high to make the grade. However, there is a carryover of 2024 crop which should comfortably mitigate this outcome.

Spring barleys, much of which is still Laureate, bear all the hallmarks of a hot dry summer – lower yields and high grain nitrogen content. But many samples off the chalk soils are exhibiting big bold grains, bulging with starch. This should spell high extracts and high spirit yield. It is a legacy of all that sun, for which there is no substitute, and is usefully described by some as nature’s disinfectant. But, again, grain nitrogen’s are also very variable, some right off the chart.

But all the barley is dry, and safe, for long term storage. We, as maltsters, just have to ‘cherry pick’ our way through the samples. Probably the best of the national crop is across central southern England, so on our doorstep. It is now our job to make sure we keep it here.