Heineken UK has launched one of the country’s largest regenerative malting barley programmes, directly paying farmers a premium for adopting regenerative practices.
The initiative, delivered in partnership with maltsters Muntons and Boortmalt, barley merchant Cefetra and agronomy specialist Soil Capital, will see farmers rewarded for producing regenerative barley while receiving agronomic support.
“As a major brewer in the UK, it’s important that we shoulder some of the investment and responsibility involved in supporting farmers through this transition,” a Heineken UK spokesperson told AgNavigator.
“We recognise that changing farming practices requires investment and can involve risk, and we don’t believe farmers should carry that burden alone.”
Securing barley for the future
The brewer’s rationale is to protect the long-term availability of a crop that underpins its beer portfolio.
“The future of brewing depends on the future of barley,” the spokesperson said.
“As one of the UK’s largest brewers, we recognise the role we can play in helping build a more resilient and sustainable supply chain. By moving a significant proportion of our barley production to regenerative agriculture practices we’re helping reduce our environmental impact while securing the future supply of British barley.”
Heineken UK brews more than 1.3 billion pints annually and supplies around 80% of UK pubs, with more than 95% of the beer it sells brewed domestically. That makes the resilience of British barley production strategically important.
The programme is also linked to Heineken’s wider sustainability agenda and ambition to achieve net zero carbon across its value chain by 2040 under its Brew a Better World strategy.
Half of barley supply to be regenerative by 2027
The programme aims for almost half of Heineken UK’s malted barley supply in 2027 to come from regenerative agriculture systems, according to company estimates.
Regenerative barley will be used across the brewer’s portfolio, including Heineken®, Cruzcampo, Birra Moretti, John Smith’s, Foster’s and Amstel.
The first crop will be harvested in 2026 before entering the brewing process and reaching consumers in 2027.
Participating growers will implement practices such as reduced soil disturbance, cover cropping and more diverse crop rotations, with management approaches tailored to individual farms rather than a one-size-fits-all model.
The scheme spans major barley-growing areas across England and Scotland, including East Anglia, the East Midlands, South East England, South West England, Fife and the Scottish Borders.
Open to farms of all sizes
Heineken says there are no minimum acreage or production requirements.
“There are farmers in the programme who have under 20ha of barley and some that are growing close to 500ha, so a real range of large and small farms,” the spokesperson said.
Financial support is linked to measurable progress towards regenerative agriculture goals, while growers also receive technical support from project partners.
Soil Capital will work closely with onboarded farmers to provide expert advice as they adopt regenerative practices, measuring the impact of the new methods on more than 30 indicators, including soil health, increased biodiversity and water management.
“For regenerative agriculture to scale, it needs to be measured credibly and transparently,” said Soil Capital’s chief revenue officer Nathalie Bouche. “Independent measurement gives farmers, businesses and the wider value chain the confidence to invest for the long term.”
Heineken signs agreements with suppliers and merchants that subsequently work with participating growers to source regenerative barley, creating a commercial route to market alongside environmental outcomes.
A global learning exercise, not a race to 100%
While many food and beverage companies have announced ambitions to source all key ingredients sustainably, Heineken is taking a more cautious approach.
The company confirmed it does not currently have a target to source 100% of its malting barley from regenerative agriculture.
Instead, the UK programme is being used as a large-scale test case as part of a broader global effort to understand how regenerative agriculture can be expanded across its operations.
“Our current focus is to explore regen ag at scale across our opco’s globally,” the spokesperson said.
“We want to be ambitious as well as pragmatic in terms of realising the breadth of benefits not only to soil health but also to water stewardship, biodiversity, malting yields to name a few.”
The company described the 2027 target as a milestone rather than an end point and suggested lessons learned from the UK initiative will help shape future projects elsewhere.
Measuring environmental returns
One question still unanswered is how much the programme will reduce Heineken’s Scope 3 emissions.
The company says it is too early to quantify the impact and is working with Soil Capital to develop independently verified metrics.
“This first phase is about launching the programme and supporting the transition,” the spokesperson said.
“The next phase is about independently verified results and reporting on progress.”
While soil carbon benefits often dominate regenerative agriculture discussions, Heineken says it is equally interested in outcomes relating to biodiversity, water stewardship, soil health and crop performance.
What will it mean for beer drinkers?
Consumers are unlikely to notice any difference in the beer itself.
According to Heineken, regeneratively grown barley behaves in the same way as conventionally grown barley during malting and brewing.
“It’s vital that our consumers don’t taste any difference in the beers they’re drinking come 2027,” the spokesperson said.
“Regeneratively sourced barley behaves exactly as conventionally farmed barley does during the malting process.”
Nor is the initiative likely to have a significant impact on retail pricing. Although paying farmers a premium will increase ingredient costs, barley typically represents only a small proportion of the final cost of a pint compared with packaging, energy, logistics, labour, duty and retail margins.
