The beer industry in Britain is adjusting to a growing threat from extreme weather, as rising temperatures and dry soil cut domestic barley yields and push up prices.
James Clarke, 55, managing director of Hook Norton Brewery in Oxfordshire, said: "Some areas are very dry at the moment and yields are down." He added: "I think three of the last six years have been like that. It can mean lower yields and rising prices because of reduced availability."
Craig Dawson, 34, manager of the Muntons barley supply chain, said the issue deserves more attention than it gets. "There aren’t many things so widely consumed that are produced from primarily UK-grown ingredients as beer," he said. "We grow some of the best malting barley in the world here, because of things like soil quality and climate."
Brewers turn to forward contracts
Firms of all sizes, from family-run operations like Hook Norton to major international conglomerates, are responding by strengthening their ties with farmers and building sustainability practices into how they source barley. At Hook Norton, that has meant leaning on forward contracts to manage risk.
"In some ways, the sector is quite resilient, because we forward-contract, so the prices are fixed ahead of time and we dodge some of the market volatility," Mr Clarke said. "It helps us to build good relationships with farmers, listen to their concerns and adjust in terms of sustainability practices. I think that end-to-end dialogue is a really important thing."
Patrick Barker, 45, a farm manager based in Stowmarket who supplies the Budweiser Brewing Group (BBG), said improving soil moisture has become central to staying resilient. "The crop we’re looking at now has had very little rain over the whole of spring," he said. "We’re working with the supply chain to mitigate the risk as much as we can. But we need to adapt fast. Otherwise, we’re losing both the quality and quantity of barley."
Farmers play catch up
Matt Carter, 30, farm manager at Rougham Estate in Suffolk, which also supplies the BBG, said the estate has been bringing in organic matter such as pig manure to help crops retain moisture, alongside planting cover crops. But he warned that not every farm is starting from the same position.
"It is very quickly becoming a pattern," Mr Carter said. "The landowner of Rougham is essentially a custodian and very focused on sustainability, so we’re ahead of the curve in this respect. But farmers who are just beginning to play catch up now may just fall further and further behind."
The gap is part of what is driving AB InBev, the world’s largest brewer and parent company of the BBG, to invest directly in its supply chain. The company has sourced 100% of its barley for UK operations domestically since 2020, alongside offering pricing premiums and long-term contracts to growers.
Investing in resilience
Katie Hoard, senior global director of sustainability for the brewer, said AB InBev’s 2030 roadmap centres on "skilling, connecting and financially empowering 100% of its direct farmers", including support for all its malt suppliers to do the same throughout their own supply chains.
Speaking at an event celebrating the BBG’s East Anglian barley-growing operations, she pointed to agriculture’s broader role in rural Britain. "In the UK, agriculture is the backbone of rural communities," she said. "There’s such a history of malting barley. And now, innovation is becoming a critical part of sustaining this. Now is the time to build long-term resilience."
Ms Hoard said pilot programmes are already showing results in mitigating drought, protecting crop quality and securing long-term supply. That includes working with agri-tech start-up CroBio, which has developed a bacteria that forms sponge-like protection around crop roots, making them more drought resilient - a technique that could potentially boost yields by up to 40%.
Even with these interventions, the underlying pressure remains. Mr Dawson put the risk in stark terms: if conditions keep pushing yields down, some farmers may abandon barley altogether. "There is the risk that farmers will struggle and end up using their land for some other purpose," he said. "Extreme weather can quickly make it hard to grow barley. That’s why it’s important these conversations are had and producers feel supported in making changes."
