Western Canadian grain growers weren’t the only ones to harvest a small barley crop in 2010.
Barley production was also down sharply in the European Union, Russia and Ukraine, three of the world’s top five barley producers.
Australia was the only one of the world’s top five producers that saw barley production increase between 2009 and 2010, although there are concerns about the quality of that country’s crop.
In the United States, ranked No. 7 in the world in 2010, barley acreage dropped to 2.9 million acres last year, down from 3.6 million acres two years earlier.
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Scott Heisel, vice-president of the American Malting Barley Association in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, said stakeholders in the global barley industry are becoming increasingly concerned about maintaining barley acreage and ensuring an adequate supply of high quality barley for maltsters and brewers.
A rapid increase in Asian beer consumption means a stable supply of barley is crucial to growth of the industry, he added.
Heisel said production failures like the ones that occurred in 2010, combined with shrinking barley acreage, could leave the industry in a tough spot.
“There were production problems in many parts of the world last year,” said Heisel, whose organization is hosting an international barley improvement conference in San Diego, California, next week.
“We’ve seen a big decline in barley acreage in the United States over the past 20 years and I think Canada and other countries have seen big declines as well.”
Heisel said barley is losing acreage to corn, soybeans and canola, which offer greater financial returns to producers.
To ensure that barley maintains a spot in North American rotations, Heisel said industry stakeholders, researchers and plant breeders must work together to develop a plan to develop new varieties with better yield potential, better grain quality characteristics and improved disease packages.
“We have to do whatever we can through research to keep barley acres out there,” he said.
“That means trying to increase yields, increase quality and improve acceptance among the malting industry.”
Rob McCaig, managing director of the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre in Winnipeg, said supplies of high quality malting barley could be tight in 2011.
In Canada, total production was estimated at 7.6 million tonnes in 2010, a 20 percent decrease from the 2009-10 crop year and the country’s second lowest barley output in the past 30 years.
Russian grain industry analyst SovEcon said in late December that 2010 barley production would be down 54 percent from 2009.
Russian farmers harvested 8.3 million tonnes of barley last year, down from more than 17 million tonnes in 2009.
The country was hit by a prolonged dry spell last year and unusually hot temperatures through much of the 2010 growing season.
Barley production in the EU was also down sharply.
December estimates from Coceral, which represents the European cereal industry, estimated total barley production in the EU’s 27 member states at 53 million tonnes in 2010, down from 62 million tonnes in 2009.
The 14 percent decrease in European production was due to a reduction in barley acreage and unfavourable growing conditions in many parts of the continent.
In Ukraine, 2010 barley production fell 26 percent to 8.7 million tonnes from 11.8 million tonnes in 2009.
Australia had one of its biggest barley harvests ever in 2010, producing 9.8 million tonnes.
Michael Brophy, president of the Brewing and Malting Barley Research Institute in Winnipeg, said last month that barley acreage has been declining in Canada and the U.S. because North American demand for feed barley is low and acreage of other feed crops, particularly corn, has been increasing.
North America’s inventory of cattle and hogs has been declining steadily over the past few years, reducing demand for feed barley.
In Canada, the total hog inventory as of October 2010 was estimated at fewer than 12 million head, which is a reduction of 3.3 million head, or 22 percent, from October 2005.
Cattle on feed numbers are also down.
As of Dec. 1, cattle on feed in Western Canada were estimated at roughly 825,000 head, compared with 895,000 head in 2009 and 945,000 head in 2008.
With Western Canadian feedlot capacity estimated at 1.7 million head, feedlots in the West were 60 percent full as of early December.
THE BEST YEARS FOR BARLEY
Top production (tonnes) since 1980:
1. 1996 -15,562,000
2. 1986 -14,568,000
3. 1982 -13,966,000
4. 1987 -13,916,000
5. 1981 -13,724,000
The worst years for barley
Lowest production (tonnes) since 1980:
1. 2002 -7,489,000
2. 2010 -7,605,000
3. 2009 -9,517,000
4. 2006 -9,573,000
5. 1983 -10,209,000
Source: USDA | WP GRAPHIC
