Pure Local

PURE LOCAL

Together with a new generation of Belgian farmers committed to regenerative agriculture, we're bringing brewing barley back to where it belongs - Belgian soil. Our growers apply regenerative farming techniques: planting cover crops, minimizing soil disturbance, reducing chemical fertilizers and encouraging biodiversity - to produce high-quality Belgian barley while actively restoring the health of the land.

Pure

For an agriculture that respects the soil and the planet, and a malt of exceptional quality.

Local

+97% of the Barley malted in Belgium is imported. We want to change this and support our local farmers.

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PURE LOCAL VALUES

THE PHILOSOPHY BEHIND PURE LOCAL

WE CARE FOR OUR SOIL

HEALTHY SOILS FOR HEALTHY BARLEY

At Belgomalt, we care about our fields. We realize that it is not an endless source of nutrients and we deeply respect its value. Healthy soil is the basis for growing healthy barley and through regenerative farming we improve soil health and biodiversity.

LESS CO2, MORE WATER ABSORPTION

ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE

Throughout the years, traditional agricultural techniques proved their purpose, but more than ever we realize that they make our soils very vulnerable. Today, agriculture contributes to a large proportion of worldwide CO2 emissions, this doesn’t have to be the case. Regenerative agriculture can lead to crops extracting more carbon from the air, strengthening the vitality of the soil and reducing CO2 emission, while turning fallow fields into vibrant green fields covered by cover crops in winter.

Organisms in uncultivated soils emit a continuous amount of CO2. Instead of laying the fields fallow, we can sow it with ground-covering crops. These crops extract CO2 from the air and store it in the earth as nutrition. Moreover, the soil will be protected by a natural cover and it will be easier for rootlets to find their way to deeper layers of the soil to find water and nutrients, therefore use of fertilizers will become less crucial.

AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVE

120 COMMITTED BELGIAN FARMERS

In the Gembloux region we have a group of farmers who grow malting barley. They take the best possible measures to meet the high quality standards of our brewers. All the farmers apply regenerative farming techniques. Together with our agronomists, our farmers gradually work towards implementing fully regenerative farming techniques to protect our soils. We are able to measure the carbon footprint of these farms.

SUSTAINABILITY

REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE

With Pure Local, Belgomalt is fully committed to regenerative agriculture. To this end, we are working with agricultural advisory organization Regenacterre. Since 2021 Regenacterre registered the Regenerative Agriculture label for those farmers that apply regenerative agricultural techniques.

THE DATA

THE DATA PROVES IT WORKS

Within the Pure Local program, we work with Soil Capital to measure the carbon footprint of each farmer's barley crop every year - with ISO certified results.

Today, our community has grown to 120 passionate Belgian farmers applying regenerative techniques to improve soil health, restore biodiversity, and reduce the carbon footprint of our malts and beer. In return for their commitment, they're rewarded with a fair price per ton of barley.

The results speak for themselves. Over the last five crop years, the weighted average emissions of the Pure Local program have approached zero - and for several crop years, we've achieved negative emissions. That means our farmers are sequestering more CO2 than they emit.We believe regenerative farming plays a key role in global decarbonisation, yet its potential is still widely overlooked. The graph below shows the weighted average CO2 balance of Pure Local barley compared to conventional farming - and the difference is significant. These reductions have a real impact on the CO2 balance of both our maltings and your brewery.