Crop update August 2026: the harvest is now in across the Netherlands, France, the UK and Denmark. Our July update flagged the heatwaves rolling across Europe as combines started on winter cereals – and that heat left its mark. The pattern across all four regions is consistent. Quality has held up well, but yield has taken the hit, and how much depends on where the rain fell.
The Netherlands
A wet winter and a dry, low-disease spring gave Dutch growers a strong start, and it shows in the sample. Grain has come in dry with good hectolitre weights. Yields tell a more mixed story, with lighter soils hit hardest by July’s heat wave and drought. Our summer malting barley looks promising on the outside. Germination, the figure that decide malting suitability, is still being assessed lot by lot in the coming weeks.
France
Western Europe’s largest spring barley region had a tough season in some areas. A week of temperatures above 30°C hit spring-sown barley hardest, while autumn-sown barley and winter cereals, already further along, came through in better shape. FranceAgriMer figures put national barley yield down around 3.5 quintals per hectare on last year. The reassuring part is quality: brewing barley calibration came in around 85%, with average protein close to 10.8% – comfortably inside the malting window.
United Kingdom
The UK brought in its earliest harvest since AHDB records began in 2006, but speed came at a cost. Winter wheat yields landed roughly 13% below the five-year average. Grain quality is the upside – test weights and protein are strong across the board – though grain nitrogen, the figure that actually decides malting intake, has been unusually variable this year. That means testing load by load rather than assuming a consistent crop.
Denmark and Scandinavia
Denmark went into the season with an advantage. Well-timed rain carried spring malting barley through an early dry spell, sparing the region much of the stress seen in the UK. That held for most of the season, though by late July the dry pattern reaching the rest of Europe began to affect Danish and Swedish summer crops too. Early indications point to a solid, in-line harvest; we’ll share firm figures once national data is confirmed.
What it means at the malthouse
Across Europe, this year’s tonnage is down on last year’s crop, but not scarce. Our crop update August 2026 shows supply remains comfortable, and malting barley premiums over feed have narrowed rather than widened. The real variable this season is consistency. Strong quality sits alongside real field-to-field variation, which is exactly why grading and grower relationships matter as much as the raw numbers. A mixed harvest still becomes a reliable malt when it’s sorted well before it ever reaches the kiln.
Curious what this year’s harvest means for your malt supply? Contact our team for the latest on quality and availability.
