Why spring barley?

Spring barley competes with winter crops that generally offer higher yield.

What makes spring barley attractive?

A good rotation

Spring sown crops offer some decisive benefits in a crop rotation. They allow a slot for green manuring and bear opportunities to control persistent weeds of crop rotations with winter cereals and winter oilseed rape.

Spring barley grows swiftly and therefore requires less disease and pest control than winter cereals. For these reasons, spring barley is sometimes considered a “low input” crop with an excellent environmental footprint. However, to obtain decent returns, and due to its short vegetation period, the crop needs to be managed carefully.

Malting barley, which makes up most of the grown surface, in addition must meet the strict specifications of maltsters.

Table 1: Spring barley is grown on less acreage than winter barley. The ratio is similar in France and Germany. Spring barley generates 10-25% less yield than winter barley.