Skip to content

Barley

In 2018 there were 250,500 hectares of Spring barley were grown, with 37,500 ha of it winter sown.  In Scotland, barley is mostly grown for the production of malt to supply the world-renowned Scottish whiskey industry - this crop is commonly known as malting barley.  Scotland produced 1.3 million tonnes of spring barley in 2018, about half of which was used for malting.  In order for barley to be used for malting, it must meet strict quality requirements such as a low nitrogen content. There is also a significant quantity of winter barley grown in Scotland, although some of this is used for malting most of it is used as animal feed.

Barley 1 -group

Diseases

Photo CIMMYT flickr cc

Sign up to the FAS newsletter

Receive updates on news, events and publications from Scotland’s Farm Advisory Service