Grower Contract Terms
Why the terms matter more than on a feed sale
On a feed sale the grade at the scale settles most of it. A malting contract adds a test the scale doesn't run. Germination isn't one of the federal grading factors for sorghum, which cover test weight, damaged kernels, broken kernels and foreign material, and other material such as stones and filth (7 CFR 810.1404). So the lot that matters most to a maltster is judged on a line the grade certificate never prints, and the contract is the only place that line lives.
That's why the risk sits in the paperwork. In Bard's record, a malt batch went moldy and the supplier carried it, grain and malt both, because the agreement said so. The lesson from that record: "Decide in advance who carries a rejected or failed lot, and write it down" (Sourcing Sorghum Farmer-Direct).
The terms to settle
Variety and seed. The buyer names the variety, and it's decided at planting (farmer-direct). Settle who supplies the seed, whether it's certified seed, and whether you may save any. Read the seed tag too. It has to state the percentage of other crop seed in the bag, and that figure can lump every unnamed crop together (7 U.S.C. §1571; 7 CFR 201.18). For a buyer who takes no wheat, barley, rye or oats, ask which crops make up that figure.
Volume. The buyer contracts for a fixed amount of grain, and you should expect that amount to be more than the buyer needs. Bard's contracted for about twice the grain it needed, as insurance against spoilage. Identity-preserved grain can't be bought off an elevator to cover a lost lot, so the margin has to be grown, and whatever isn't needed goes to the open market. Settle the amount, and who sells any grain the buyer doesn't take, at what price.
The quality standards, held until delivery. Write the standards into the contract: a test weight of at least 56 lb per bushel, moisture targeted at 10% and accepted up to 14%, and germination of at least 85% within three days, with a premium at 92% or better (farmer-direct). Grain can pass at harvest and fail in the bin. "Heat damages viability, and a lot can look sound while failing a germination test" (Malting Sorghum Specification), so the contract needs to hold the grain to those numbers through storage, right up to delivery (Grain Storage, Germination, and Mycotoxin Controls).
Grain is accepted up to 14% moisture, but a lot at 14% is carrying four more points of water than one at 10%, and the buyer pays for it by the bushel. Expect the price to be adjusted for moisture above 10%, and settle how in the contract.
Protein, reported before acceptance. Report the protein of every lot, and get it to the maltster before the lot is accepted. Sorghum protein runs from roughly 7% to 17% across the crop as it's actually grown. Barley maltsters rarely face that spread because the market filters it out "before it reaches them": lots outside the malting spec go to feed before a maltster ever sees them (Sorghum Protein and the Missing Spec). Sorghum has no such filter, so your protein figure is the maltster's only warning. Unlogged, a ten-point spread leaves the maltster guessing at the approach, because "every protein number implies a process" (Lot Reporting Standard): a lot at 8% and a lot at 16% shouldn't be handled the same way. The proposed malting specification records protein and sets no cap on it (Malting Sorghum Specification). A buyer can still write a protein band into the agreement to standardize the lots more tightly. That's the buyer's call, because the maltster malts for what the brewer wants.
The specification and the test. Agree the specification line by line, and attach it. The published one is a 13-point grain specification with germination as the line that sets malting grain apart. Acceptance rests on three measurements together: the FGIS inspection (grade, test weight, moisture and protein), a germination test from a seed lab, and the protein figure itself (Grain Source and Acceptance), with a gluten test on the lot. The 2019 specification "does not state a testing method or who pays for testing. Settle both in writing" (farmer-direct). Settle who samples, when, and at whose cost. Official sampling is one option (FGIS Grain Sampling), and the labs are on Third-Party Testing Resources. Then settle what happens when you disagree with a result. A Missouri contract checklist puts the question plainly: "If you disagree with the test results, can you get a third-party, independent test?" (Missouri Farm Bureau, 2000).
Harvest and handling. Write in the practices the buyer needs, so they're terms rather than hopes: no glyphosate or other desiccant before harvest, harvest at black layer and prompt drying (Where to Grow), cleaned combines, bins and trucks, and no elevator (Agricultural Cross-Contamination).
Grain that tests below the germination threshold, 85% within three days, will not be accepted. Every harvest and storage decision above and below exists to protect it.
Storage on the farm. You store the grain on site, identity-preserved, in a dedicated bin or silo that's kept gluten-free (Grain and Malt Storage). Keep a lot ID from farm and bin, and a sample per bin. When the buyer accepts the grain, it assigns its own lot number tied to that ID, so the lot is traceable from the moment it enters the buyer's system (Grain Source and Acceptance). A farm's crop can be far more than a small malthouse can take or store at once (farmer-direct), so settle how long you hold it, who pays for the storage, and how lots are called off.
Delivery. Settle who hauls the grain, where it goes and when, and the format: the realistic two are "super sacks or a semi load" (farmer-direct). The truck itself is a gluten control point, covered on Safe Transport and Custody.
Price basis and the premium. Settle how the price is set: fixed at signing, or worked out at delivery from a reference price the contract names. Then settle what earns the premium and how it's measured. The specification ties it to germination at 92% or better (Why Grow Sorghum for Malt). Get the price in writing: invoices arriving above the price discussed are one of the failures in Bard's own records (farmer-direct).
Payment. Settle when you're paid: at delivery, after the acceptance test, or in stages as stored lots are called off. Settle who owns the grain while it sits in your bin, because "Usually the party with title of ownership bears the risk of loss" (Missouri Farm Bureau, 2000).
Rejected lots. Settle who carries a lot that fails germination or mold testing, and what happens to it next. The checklist asks: "If the grain is rejected as a specialty grain, can it be sold in the open market as regular grain?" (same source). Settle whether you're free to sell a rejected lot into feed, and at what price.
A bad year. Settle what happens when the crop comes in short or fails. Does the fixed amount still stand, or is a short crop excused? Weather "taking out a region you were counting on" is in Bard's record (farmer-direct), and the 2022 season is the test case: "A contract written in a good year has to survive a year like that" (Where to Grow).
What travels with your grain
Lot reporting usually gets talked about as the maltster's job, numbers on the malt certificate for the brewer. The chain starts a step earlier, with you. A malt failure can start on the farm: when a batch of Bard's malt went moldy in the malthouse, the assessment at the time was that "this is usually caused by a farmer not taking care of the grain as agreed" (farmer-direct).
This is where a grower stands out. The numbers a maltster needs before accepting a lot are already on your certificates: grade, test weight, moisture, protein, germination, mycotoxin results and a gluten test. Too often they stay there, "and then the grain ships without them" (Lot Reporting Standard). Send them with every lot, in the form the Lot Reporting Standard sets out, and the maltster gets what grain bought off an elevator can never give it: a lot it can plan around before it steeps. If you already hold the certificates, List Your Grain uses the numbers you have.
We'll help you work through it
Every farm brings its own equipment, storage and history, so these terms come out differently each time. If you've been offered a malting contract, or want one, tell us about your farm and we'll help you work through the terms and set up the lot reporting. Growers and seed companies are also on our consultation list.
The contract you sign is the one that counts, and general guidance is no substitute for reading it, so have someone who knows farm contracts look it over before you do. The Missouri checklist quoted above dates from 2000; its questions still apply.
Next step
- Offered a contract? Tell us your region, how much grain the buyer wants and what they've asked for.
- Still deciding whether malting is worth it for your farm? Start with Why Grow Sorghum for Malt.