Barley farming and feed barley from Ukraine

How barley is grown in Ukraine

Barley farming in Ukraine uses two forms. Winter barley is sown in late September and October and is usually the first cereal to be harvested, in late June. Spring barley goes into the ground as early as the soil allows in March or April and is combined in July. Both ripen before wheat, which spreads the harvest workload.

Barley tolerates a short season and lighter soils better than wheat, but it dislikes acidic and waterlogged fields. Most of the crop becomes feed barley; a smaller share of carefully grown spring barley with low protein and high germination goes to maltsters.

Spring barley in Ukraine is mostly two-row, while winter barley includes both two-row and six-row varieties. Six-row types tend to give smaller, less even kernels, which is fine for feed but less suited to malting.

Our barley farming

Our barley comes from a farming group in the Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr and Rivne regions. Fields are prepared with the tillage that suits them, from classical ploughing to no-till, depending on soil, moisture and weather. No-till helps hold moisture in the drier steppe fields, where spring barley is sensitive to a dry May.

After harvest the grain goes to our certified silos near the fields. Each site has a full line for receiving, cleaning, drying, storage and shipping, so barley is cleaned of chaff and weed seeds and dried to a safe moisture before it is stored.

Feed barley prices and how we quote

Feed barley prices follow the season, the size of the Ukrainian and world crop, freight costs and the delivery term. A lot delivered DAP to your plant costs more than the same grain loaded FCA at our silo. That is why we do not publish a price list: each offer is calculated for a specific lot, quality and Incoterm.

To get a quote, send us the volume, the quality you need (moisture, protein, foreign matter, test weight) and the delivery point. We work on Incoterms 2020 terms FCA, CPT, DAP and DDP.

What buyers can source

We offer barley feed for sale in bulk, loaded on trucks or railcars, or in big bags for road transport. Quality is fixed in the contract specification. The grain meets the requirements of the State Standard of Ukraine, and extra certification can be arranged depending on the market and use. For export lots, ask which documents come with the shipment; a phytosanitary certificate and a certificate of origin are the usual set.

If you are looking for malting barley suppliers, send us your malting specification. Whether a lot can meet it depends on the crop of the year, so we confirm it case by case rather than promise malting quality in advance.

Related crops and feed products

Barley is one of seven crops our farms grow. Learn more about our grain farming and storing grain, or see Ukrainian wheat and corn farming. Feed mills that buy barley often also need protein ingredients: our high-protein sunflower meal and GMO-free soybean cake come from our own oil plant.