Heineken offers UK barley growers regenerative premium

British barley growers will receive premium payments to adopt regenerative farming methods under a Heineken UK programme expected to supply almost half of the brewer’s malted barley in 2027.

The company has launched the initiative with maltsters Muntons and Boortmalt, barley merchant Cefetra and independent agronomy business Soil Capital.

Farmers will be paid a premium for barley grown using regenerative practices, helping to reduce the financial risk of changing how they manage their land.

The announcement did not disclose the value of the premium, the number of participating farms, the area covered or the expected volume of barley.

Heineken UK said growers would also receive agronomic support and multi-year commitments intended to make the transition commercially viable.

For this programme, regenerative farming will include reduced soil disturbance, cover crops and more diverse crop rotations.

The methods used will be tailored to each farm, based on the practices growers already have in place and what is most suitable for their land.

The company said the approach was designed to improve soil health, retain carbon, support biodiversity, manage water more effectively and strengthen resilience to climate change.

Almost half of the malted barley sourced by Heineken UK is expected to be grown using regenerative practices in 2027.

The first participating crop is due to be harvested in 2026 before being malted and brewed for beers served in 2027.

However, the announcement did not clarify whether those crops had been planted or enrolled in the programme before its formal launch in August 2026.

Regenerative barley will be used across the company’s portfolio, including Heineken, Cruzcampo, Birra Moretti, John Smith’s, Foster’s and Amstel.

According to company figures, Heineken UK brews more than 1.3 billion pints annually and supplies about 80% of UK pubs.

It said more than 95% of the beer it sells is brewed in the UK, increasing the importance of resilient domestic supply chains for ingredients such as barley.

The programme will operate across major barley-growing areas in England and Scotland.

Participating regions will include East Anglia, the East Midlands, the South East, the South West, Fife and the Scottish Borders.

Sonia Thimmiah, corporate affairs director at Heineken UK, said: “British malting barley is at the heart of some of the UK’s best-loved beers, so making it more resilient for the future matters.”

“This programme is about working with partners to make regenerative agriculture practical, scalable and commercially viable by strengthening soils and helping farms stay fit for the future.”

The initiative forms part of Heineken's global Brew a Better World strategy, through which the company aims to protect water and nature and reduce carbon emissions.

Boortmalt said long-term collaboration between brewers, maltsters, merchants, agronomists and farmers could give growers greater confidence when adopting new practices.

Muntons said the transition would need to be commercially realistic and tailored to individual farms rather than relying on a single approach for every grower.

Soil Capital will independently measure, report and verify progress using farm-level data.

The company will work with participating growers and assess the effects of regenerative practices against more than 30 indicators, including soil health, biodiversity and water management.

Nathalie Bouche, chief revenue officer at Soil Capital, said: “For regenerative agriculture to scale, it needs to be measured credibly and transparently.”

She said independent evidence would give farmers and supply-chain businesses greater confidence to make long-term investments.