SPOKANE – Northwest barley breeders have plans to boost barley production in the region.

Idaho farmers harvested 520,000 barley acres in 2019, down nearly 2% from 530,000 acres in 2018, according to the USDA.

Oregon farmers harvested 32,000 acres, up 23% from 26,000 in 2018.

Washington farmers harvested 85,000 acres of barley in 2019, up nearly 27% from 67,000 acres in 2018.

New Washington State University barley breeder Robert Brueggeman said his goal is to increase the number of barley acres in the state.

He plans to introduce spring and winter malting varieties that meet the American Malting Barley Association specifications and values of the craft brewing and craft distilling industries.

WSU’s breeding program is focusing on quality, although yield potential is important, Brueggeman said. 

He plans to add high-resolution analysis for the later generations of breeding lines and add a university malt quality lab.

Previously, barley varieties were intended for specific uses – malting, food or feed.

“I would argue now that every barley is potentially a multi-use barley,” said Patrick Hayes, Oregon State University barley breeder.

The craft beer industry is malting varieties that were formerly considered feed varieties, he said.

“If you’ve got the luxury to do a six- or seven-day malt, you may be able to use something that might not fit malting definitions for other industries,” he said.

Hayes’ program includes recent releases Thunder and Buck, both at the Washington State Crop Improvement Association for foundation seed in 2020.

Foundation class seed is the first generation of seed available to the public and is the basis for the production of registered and certified seed, according to the crop improvement association.

“The future of barley is naked,” Hayes said, referring to hulless barley. “We’ve had hulled for 10,000 years; that’s been very useful and important. But it would really simplify our lives if barley did not have a hull.”

Naked grains have potential advantages for malt extracts and flavor attributes, Hayes said.

Gongshe Hu, research geneticist for the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Aberdeen, Idaho, said winter barley varieties have some of the most promise for farmers. They have a higher yield compared to spring and better use natural resources such as water, so they could avoid some diseases, heat and stress by being harvested earlier.

Hu’s new varieties include hulless food barley variety Upspring and other lines coming in the next few years.

Bryce McKay, director of marketing for McKay Seed Inc., in Almira, Wash., said the company’s long-term goals include creating food barley lines that will compete with malt barley; maintaining and adding to the best feed barley lines in the marketplace and establishing superior forage barley lines over oats and triticale.

The barley breeders spoke Nov. 15 during the Tri-State Grain Growers Convention in Spokane.