THE desire to beat a pesticide ban affecting oil seed rape (OSR) is having a knock-on effect for the barley straw market.

Auctioneer John Read from Carter Jonas reports that farmers switching to barley as their cereal crop in order to bring forward their harvest means more barley straw is entering the market because it can only be baled rather than chopped and ploughed back in.

Barley has become the preferred cereal for those wishing to plant a following break crop of OSR because the European ban on neonicotinoids means OSR has to be planted earlier to get well-established before it comes under pest attack.

As a result, this year’s first hay and straw sale on December 4 saw barley straw averaging £37 per tonne and only achieving a best price of £40 a tonne for Jon Capes of Tangley, near Andover, when last year, even in a time of surplus, it was making £63 per tonne compared with up to £80 per tonne two years ago.

The sale also saw wheat straw making an average £40 per tonne, with a best price of £50 per tonne for Andrew Brown of Bishops Cannings. That was also way below the 2013 price, which equalled barley straw after lagging behind barley in 2012.

Mr Read said: “This has been an unusual year, with a plentiful supply of both barley and wheat straw but a shortage of buyers, as most people’s needs are well met by their own stocks.

“It was noticeable that, thus far, demand for wheat straw has outstripped that for barley, which normally has added value because it can be used as a feed supplement.

“The lacklustre market for hay this year, achieving a top price of £50 a tonne and an average of £40 – both less than half last year’s already falling prices – shows that feed is not a concern for livestock farmers at the moment, given the mild autumn.

“However, the dramatic weather events last winter demonstrated how quickly that situation can change so demand could well pick up by the next sale on January 22.”