Sustainable barley: What 100% FSA Gold means for brewers and distillers
In early 2026, we received confirmation that 678 of our contracted malting barley growers had achieved 100% Gold performance level in SAI Platform’s Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA).
It follows on from more than 120 of our contracted distilling wheat growers achieving 100% Gold performance level in late 2024.
This means that all our directly contracted malting barley and distilling wheat suppliers are verified to FSA Gold – the highest performance level under a globally recognised framework.
But, if you’re a brewer or distiller reading this, you’re probably thinking – what does this mean for me?
1. The malt you receive from us has robust sustainable sourcing credentials
The geographical spread of the 678 malting barley growers spans from the Highlands of Scotland to the south of England and covers supply into both malting sites: Tweed Valley Maltings in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland and Tivetshall Maltings in Norfolk.
It means that for purchases of both distilling and brewing malt, you can be confident that the malting barley behind it has been independently verified to the highest sustainability performance level available under the FSA framework.
Achieving Gold performance level across an entire supply base provides a depth of assurance that is still rare within UK cereal supply chains. The most common UK farm assurance schemes are benchmarked to the FSA as equivalent to FSA Silver.
Overall, this means you can confidently state in your own sustainability messaging, reporting and customer communications that your grains are sustainably sourced to a robust, globally recognised standard.
2. You’re working with a business that supports – and is close to – its suppliers
We were aided in achieving 100% FSA Gold across both groups due to our agricultural merchanting division, McCreath Simpson & Prentice (MSP), through which we have long-standing relationships with many of the growers who supply us.
Each grower across both groups has a direct point of contact within our business, which helps to develop trust, familiarity and open communication. These traits are all essential when introducing rigorous third-party audits, as we acknowledge that farmers must complete many of these each year.
Alongside this, our sustainability team has gained significant experience in recent years. A key part of our Sustainability Officers’ roles is to support growers through the FSA process, answering questions, addressing concerns and explaining why the assessment matters.
For those selected for in-person audits, Sustainability Officers Jessica Douglas and Eugene Stokes were then available throughout to provide reassurance and help to ease any pressure in the lead-up to audit day.
“After being selected at random to take part in the FSA audit, my initial reaction was one of anxiety at the prospect of another audit. However, any fears that I had were allayed by Jess and Eugene, who were always on-hand – either in-person or over the phone – to offer advice and help me prepare for the day.”
Neil McIver, McIver Contracting Limited
3. It’s all part of a longer-term sustainability strategy
Achieving 100% FSA Gold across our malting barley and distilling wheat supply chains is not an end point.
However, it does mark more progress towards our goal of carbon neutral malting barley and distilling wheat production by 2030.
Other ways we’re looking to achieve this include working with both growers on the supply of low carbon fertilisers, helping with nutrient use efficiency (NUE), utilising cover crops and onboarding growers to xarvio Field Manager – a digital, data-driven platform that helps us and our growers reduce carbon emissions at field level.
Sustainability expectations will continue to evolve and working with suppliers who are already engaged in operating more efficiently will only be beneficial to us – and you – in the long-term.
If you’re reviewing your malting barley or distilling wheat sourcing and are asking what sits behind sustainability claims, we’re always happy to talk through what FSA Gold means in practice.
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