The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) grain committee has called on Boortmalt for a "stronger" second forward offer for malting barley in 2025.

The grain committee chair Kieran McEvoy said that the first forward offer for 2025 of €230/t is "late" and "disappointing", and that there has been "poor uptake" so far.

"Normally we would have two forward offers of 20% before Christmas, and 20% after Christmas, so this is the first late forward offer and we weren't happy with it. It doesn't reflect where the industry needs to be and it's a poor signal," he said.

McEvoy spoke following the announcement of the winner of the Guinness Perpetual Cup for Malting Barley Excellence in the Guinness Storehouse, Co. Dublin.

The awards brought together growers from the main barley supply regions of Ireland and the best seed producers.

McEvoy said that if there continues to be low prices in the next offers, that many farmers will "go out of business" and that "there won't be a malting barley industry".

"It would have to be a lot higher than €230/t in the second offers to cover the cost of production and provide a decent premium which there has been for malting barley over feed barley," he said.

"It's a different crop to grow than feed barley. Unfortunately there's no margin in field barley either, but there's better yield protection in the field varieties. Malting barley is a very different crop, so it needs a decent premium to reflect that," McEvoy said.

McEvoy said that incomes on tillage farms “have been decimated in the last two years”, dropping to between €21,000 and €30,000.

He added that costs on tillage farms look set to increase again in 2025 for fuel, fertiliser and contracting.