The 10th June meeting of Anstruther Rotary club saw the return of club member and farmer Ian Brunton, with the latest in his series of talks ‘A Year in the Life of’. This time it proved to be a year in the life of the barley plant.

We heard that barley, Hordeum Vulgare, is known to have been in cultivation for more that 8,000 years – from early times in Mesopotamia and with ancient Egypt using the crop for bread and beer. It was the crop believed to be important for the success of Eurasian civilisations.

Today barley is the 4th most important cereal crop in the world, with 136 million tonnes harvested each year. The UK alone grows 6 million tonnes, of which 1.9 million in Scotland – a relatively high proportion destined as malt for brewing. We heard the interesting statistic that it takes 700 grams of barley to make one bottle of whisky. This led Ian to rather pointedly make a comparison of the price he is paid per acre of barley, versus the price, profit and tax revenues from the sale of the resulting whisky. As he expects 3 tonnes of barley per acre, the numbers became very large – and not in the farmer’s favour!

Ian went on to discuss the importance of breeding programmes to improve quality, yield and disease resistance. New strains are chosen by selection panels, including farmers and it is financially very important for a breeder to have a new variety chosen and placed on the recommended list. In the UK for example 95% of fields are planted with just 3 or 4 of the listed varieties.

The talk was rounded off with examples of Spring and Winter barley plants, along with samples  of the fertilisers and specialised fungicides used in their cultivation.  

Following questions, a vote of thanks was proposed by David Barnett.