SA Farmers visit Coopers Brewery to see where their Barley Harvest went
- By: "Farm Tender" News
- Cattle News
- Oct 08, 2018
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It’s not often that Coopers Brewery hosts barley farmers during a bottling run, so everyone was excited last month when Seed Force hosted three RGT Planet farming families as they saw the results of last season‘s harvest come of the production line in the famous green box.
The farmers, from South Australia, included Neville and Celia Kernick from Field, Simon and Priscilla Mildren from Mundoora, and Tony Mackereth, who farms with his wife Elaine, at Padthaway. All three cropped the RGT Planet barley which was delivered directly to Coopers.
Doug Stewart, maltings manager at Coopers Brewery in Adelaide, enjoyed the opportunity to share a visit to the state-of-the-art barley malting facility.
“We don’t often have visits from our supplying barley growers here at the plant, let alone being able to show them the actual bottles their barley is in, going through the production line,” he said.
There was plenty of curiosity from both sides of the production process as the group took a full tour of the malting, brewing and bottling facilities.
“It’s a great chance to speak directly with these top growers about their operations. We have talked a lot and asked each other plenty of questions,” Doug said.
“It’s a great way for me to understand how things work at their end, and they were wanting to know about what we look for in the grain.”
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Tony and Elaine Mackereth produced Australia’s first large scale block of RGT Planet as summer crop in 2015-16, and they were then one of six properties to grow it commercially in 2016.
Coopers Pale Ale boxes labelled with RGT Planet barley source info.
Tony agreed that it was a unique opportunity for the group. “It’s been so interesting to be here and see first-hand what happens with our barley when it goes into beer.
“We are grateful to Seed Force for inviting us along – the Coopers set-up is amazing. I didn’t realise there’s so much that goes on in the beer-making process, and the volumes they handle are staggering,” he said.
“It is not every day you get to see your barley being poured into a bottle and boxed up. It’s pretty special. I definitely have a greater appreciation of what goes into each bottle, and how what we do on the farm can help with that process.”
The global variety performs well locally
RGT Planet is a malting spring barley variety that is in trials, production and processing in more than 44 countries across Europe, North and South America and Africa.
Farmers Pricilla Mildren and Celia Kernick at Coopers.
Seed Force, part of French-based RAGT Group that is responsible for breeding the variety, has been testing and developing it locally for the past six years.
According to David Leah, Seed Force technical and extension agronomist, it is a unique barley in that it performs well in all kinds of conditions and can be grown successfully across different geographies.
“In Australia, it was in the 2016 and 2017 National Variety Trials and will be in the 2018 program.
“It seems to hold on to condition and finish well as the season changes, and then still yield at impressive rates.
“This capacity to adapt to a large range of conditions across the world is fantastic, and we are delighted with its performance in Australia.”
Preferred by the world‘s best beer brands
RGT Planet barley is approved for malting in different parts of the world by Malteurop, Boortmalt, Groupe Soufflet, Cargill, Viking Malt and an increasing number of local maltsters. It is used by international brewers including ABInBev, Carlsberg, Coors, Heineken, Guinness, SAB Miller and San Miguel.
Malting quality approval is pending in Australia, with the result to be known in March 2019.
Tim Wilmshurst, national sales manager with Seed Force, says it has become a preferred barley variety for maltsters and brewers partly because of its wide geographic production spread.
“In Europe, RGT Planet is the number one malting barley variety. Processors like it because they can use a barley that has consistent characteristics regardless of where it has been grown – locally or in a contra season elsewhere,” he said.
“This reliability of supply helps mitigate against season failure and reduces the need to tweak or change recipes that can sometimes occur when using different barley varieties with different profiles.”
RAGT, along with the local Seed Force team, is working to create strong end-user market relationships. The company’s business development director, Samuel Gasté, believes that Asia holds significant opportunity for Australian growers.
“RGT Planet is a wonderful opportunity which brings genetic diversity to the Australian malting market for the benefit of the whole industry – farmers, grain consolidators, maltsters and brewers,” Samuel said.
Tim Wilmshurst, Seed Force, Doug Stewart, Coopers Brewery, and David Leah, Seed Force, at Coopers Brewery in Adelaide.
“With its global profile, we believe RGT Planet has the potential to lift the size of the whole malting barley market. We want to grow the segment, so that more high quality Australian barley can find a high value home.”
Picture - Seed Force hosts RGT Planet barley farmers on tour of Coopers Brewery facilities. L-R Neville and Celia Kernick, farmers from Field; Doug Stewart, Coopers; Tim Wilmshurst and David Leah, Seed Force; Tony Mackereth farms at Padthaway; Simon and Priscilla Mildren, farmers from Mundoora.
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