Brewer’s Pride in greener barley

Fuller’s owner Asahi is launching a new collaboration with malt supplier Boortmalt to support the adoption of regenerative agriculture on British barley farms.

It covers barley production equivalent to all the pale malt used in Fuller’s London Pride, Meantime Prime Pale and Dark Star Hophead.

At the Griffin brewery in Chiswick, pale accounts for around 90 per cent of the site’s annual malt use (3,050 metric tonnes in 2026).

The initiative, which started earlier this year, aims to lower greenhouse gas emissions from barley and forms part of Asahi UK’s ongoing work to understand and address the environmental impact of its ingredients.

Participating farms will introduce regenerative practices such as cover cropping, reduced tillage, crop rotation and reduced artificial fertiliser use, which can enhance soil fertility and structure, leading to better crop yields and water conservation and help boost biodiversity on farms.

The programme is delivered via Cefetra Ecosystem Services and Soil Capital, which will carry out the measuring, reporting and verification of emission reduction using a combination of farm input data and soil samples.

This builds on Asahi UK’s work on beer’s other key ingredient – hops. This includes supporting two pioneering PhD research projects alongside other partners through For Hops, and raising awareness of the challenges British hop farmers are facing from climate change with Brentford FC through Bee a Hop Grower with Pride.

Asahi UK sustainability manager Isabel Ashman said: “Barley is one of our most important ingredients and we recognise the role we can play – together with our suppliers and farmers – in building more resilient and sustainable agricultural systems.

“This partnership is about working side-by-side, learning and investing to reduce emissions in our supply chain while strengthening the future of British barley.”

Boortmalt’s Oliver Rubinstein said: “Regenerative agriculture offers a solution to so many of the challenges facing British malting barley growers right now, from extreme weather right through to economic volatility. The summer drought and high input costs over the last 12 months have reinforced why this is needed.”