Malting barley variety seed selection this spring year may have a lot do with malt selection next fall.
Jack Foster of Prairie Malt said the old standbys are not serving producers or maltsters as well as they once did.
Foster, a veteran buyer for the Biggar, Sask., maltster, said despite producers’ desires to grow Harrington and AC Metcalfe, they must consider that the more of a particular variety a buyer can select from, “the fussier we are going to be.”
“That isn’t to say you should be growing something that isn’t in demand, or that there is none of it in your area, but it should colour your decision about variety choices,” he told a recent Saskatchewan Wheat Pool-sponsored producer meeting.
Read Also
Alberta farm lives up to corn capital reputation
Farm to Table Tour highlighting to consumers where their food comes from features Molnar Farms which grows a large variety of market fruits and vegetables including corn, with Taber being known as the Corn Capital of Canada.
Foster said one of his company’s largest customers, Sapporo Beer, has shifted from Harrington to CDC Kendall, and that alone will mean that less Harrington will make the grade for malt.
“Harrington will make up about 20 percent of the seeded acres this spring. And we will still be able to be fussier about what we buy after harvest,” he said.
Prairie Malt agronomist Garth Massey said Kendall has better agronomic traits than Harrington, including good resistance to lodging and stem rust and fair resistance to net blotch. Kendall, however, doesn’t measure up to the now popular AC Metcalfe when it comes to smut.
“You have to consider the growing problems in your area, but (buyer) demand is still very important in your decision making,” Massey said.
Foster said he hopes seeded acres of Kendall will reach 50 percent in Saskatchewan this year.
“It has the qualities that (brewers) are demanding and the more that is grown, the more we will be able to offer and the more demand there will be,” he said.
Seed growers say demand for Kendall has out-stripped supply and that may force malting barley growers to consider other varieties.
Rob McCaig of the Canadian Malt Barley Technical Centre in Winnipeg said market shares of AC Metcalfe, CDC Kendall, Merit and CDC Copeland are on the increase, while Harrington acres are falling.
He said CDC Stratus and Stein have stable markets but limited demand.
CDC Copeland is another two-row variety that is in demand by Sapporo, and the Canadian Wheat Board also has a Chinese customer that likes the variety, with its lower average protein levels. Producers report Copeland also avoids shelling out, making it a popular choice for straight cutting.
“Growers may want to move off of Stratus,” said Foster.
According to wheat board reports, the variety made up eight percent of seeded acres in 2003. Prairie Malt suggests demand for the variety is from a single domestic source, making it vulnerable to change in variety selection by the brewer.
In 2003, Metcalfe made up 40 percent of the seeded malt variety acres in Western Canada and Massey said “every acre that was seeded (to AC Metcalfe) was a direct swap for acres seeded to Harrington in previous years.”
Of six-row barleys, Massey said Excel and Legacy have strong American demand but poor resistance to fusarium head blight, thus limiting it to the western Prairies.
B1602 has shown some promise in Japan for use as a tea barley, but it has poor visual characteristics and, as a result, is losing out to other varieties.
McCaig said the demand for Robust is decreasing while CDC Sisler is on the increase, but demand is limited.
