At the initiative of Heineken Croatia and in collaboration with the Agricultural Institute Osijek and the Agricultural Food Complex Nova Gradiška, the Karlovačko Barley Producers Club has been established.
The club, which was presented today as part of the agricultural conference „Slavonika“ at the Faculty of Agriculture in Osijek, aims to gather domestic producers of brewing barley and contribute to the sustainability and development of its production in Croatia, significantly reducing the need for importing brewing barley for the brewing industry in Croatia.
The establishment of the Club is a continuation of the project that the then Karlovačka Brewery, now Heineken Croatia, launched in 2014 under the name „100 percent Croatian barley“, in which, along with the Agricultural Institute Osijek, PPK Nova Gradiška was the cooperation leader, and Slavonija-slad from Nova Gradiška was the producer of barley malt. The main activities and goals of the Club will be expert advice and education, organizing targeted training and related events, along with rewarding the best barley producers.
Branka Slaveska, CEO of Heineken Croatia, stated that Heineken has faith in the knowledge and ability of Croatian farmers to produce and offer raw materials of top quality in accordance with Heineken’s production standards, and considers the establishment of the Club an additional incentive for the development of a partnership relationship among all stakeholders in the beer production chain from barley through malt to quality beer as the final product.
Heineken Croatia does not stop at encouraging the production of brewing barley, Slaveska added, but continues and plans further projects to increase the share of domestic raw materials in the production range of Heineken Croatia, particularly concerning the line of market-accepted radlers. At a round table on the development opportunities that barley cultivation can bring to family farms, participants included Valentina Belavić, director of the supply chain sector at Heineken Croatia, Alojzije Lalić from the Agricultural Institute Osijek, Danko Vincetić, director of PPK Nova Gradiška, and Mato Brlošić, owner of the family farm Agrocrnica.
