E-Malt.com News article: USA, WI: Demand for Wisconsin-grown barley increases among local craft brewers

Wisconsin-grown hops are all the rage among state craft beer makers, Wisconsin State Journal reported on August 4.

Gorst Valley Hops in Mazomanie has been growing hops since 2008 and the Midwest Hops and Barley Cooperative grows hops in central Wisconsin for five state breweries. Along Highway 69 in northern Green County, New Glarus Brewing Co. provides visitors an up-close view of the hop-growing process with hop trellises near its entrance.

But barley, another important beer ingredient, is beginning to be grown specifically for the state’s craft beer industry. And if it can reach its potential, it could be a boon for farmers, craft breweries and those who crave more local ingredients in their glass of beer.

“The quality has to be super premium. It needs to be the best quality,” said Dan Carey, brewmaster and co-founder of New Glarus Brewing Co., the state’s largest craft brewery. “Hops are sexy and hops are hot right now. Barley’s not something people think about.”

But the wheels are turning.

In two fields that combine for 80 acres northeast of Monroe, stands of two-row Scarlett barley are now more than 2 feet tall. The seed for the grain was planted on Easter Sunday on 30- and 50-acre fields that last year were home to soybeans. Jim Gratz, a Darlington farmer who rents the land and planted the barley under contract from Milwaukee malting company Malteurop, is scheduled to harvest his crop this week.

If it meets the quality standards needed for beer, the barley, which matures in 72 days and needs warm days and cool nights, will be used next spring to make Spotted Cow or one of the many other award-winning beers made by Carey.

“It’s thick and lush. I think we have some good prospects here,” said Derek Prell, Malteurop’s director of barley procurement, as he surveyed Gratz’ field along Highway DR. “This is a banner year for growing a cereal crop like barley.”

At one time, Wisconsin was a major producer of barley. Over the years, production shifted to other states, primarily Montana, Idaho and North Dakota, as more farmers here focused on corn and soybeans.

In 2013, state farmers harvested 784,000 bushels of barley from 33,000 acres, an increase of 19 percent from 2012. By comparison, state farmers harvested 445 million bushels of corn from 4.1 million acres. They also planted 1.6 million acres of soybeans in 2013 with a harvest of 58.9 million bushels, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The vast majority of barley harvested in Wisconsin is used for cattle feed. Barley for beer, however, is gaining traction.

Barley research is being conducted by UW-Madison in collaboration with UW Extension and the University of Minnesota at the Peninsular Agriculture Research Station just north of Sturgeon Bay. Work there has been ongoing for 10 years, but this year’s crop of more than 30 varieties on three acres was wiped out, along with other crops, during a July 14 hail storm. In the last three years, trial plots have also been planted in Buffalo and Chippewa counties in western Wisconsin.
Dean Volenberg, a Door County UW Extension agent, said in a report last year that barley grown in Wisconsin offers something that barley grown elsewhere cannot.

“As with grapes, the geography, geology and climate where hops and barley are grown affect their flavor characteristics,” Volenberg wrote. “This means a product made from Wisconsin-grown barley and hops will have unique characteristics.”

But it’s no longer limited to test plots.

Malteurop has been contracting for barley since 2011 and this year has 400 acres. Most of its production is centered near Wautoma in the state’s central sands region and is used by New Glarus Brewing and Lake Front Brewery in Milwaukee.

Bo Belanger, founder of South Shore Brewing Co. in Ashland, began contracting in 2009 with farmers in Ashland and Bayfield counties for barley. Initially, 400 acres were used but as testing narrowed what could be grown in that region, the acreage has been reduced to 200 acres planted by three farmers in seven fields. The yield provides all the barley Belanger needs to produce his 1,500 barrels of beer a year.

“It’s been a beautiful learning curve and in the long run my beers have been better,” said Belanger, who is also president of the Wisconsin Brewers Guild. “We’ve tried a lot of different cultivars, and we think we’ve got a pretty good cultivar.”

A cultivar is a plant with desirable characteristics that can be maintained by propagation, which is the production of more plants by seeds, cuttings, grafting or other methods.

Belanger said it is also a win-win for the farmers. Barley, after it is used in the brewing process, retains most of its nutrients and can be sold or given back to the farmer for feed, Belanger said.

Barley production has been on a steady decline for nearly 30 years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In 1987, about 11 million acres were planted nationally. In 2011, that amount had decreased to 2 million acres.

In North Dakota, a major barley producer, acres planted have gone from 2.5 million acres in 1990 to about 500,000 acres in 2010. During that same time, soybean production in the state rose from 500,000 acres to 4 million acres.

For Carey, a member of the American Malting Barley Association, he’ll pay twice as much for the locally grown barley compared to barley from other parts of the country. Most of his barley comes from Idaho and is malted in Minnesota or at Briess Malting in Chilton. Barley grows best after being planted following soybeans, not corn.

“For us, it’s money well spent,” Carey said of using locally grown barley. “Small family farms are the backbone of our country and it’s important to support small family farms and local agriculture. The goal is to try and talk farmers into putting barley into their rotations instead of putting oats or wheat into their rotation. If you can grow oats and wheat, you can certainly grow barley.”

Barley grown in Wisconsin fits the philosophy of his company that brewed its first beer in 1993 and only distributes in the state. In 2007, Dan and his wife, Deb Carey, invested $22 million for a new brewery and since that time have spent millions more to expand their fermentation and warehouse facilities.

In 2013, New Glarus produced 147,000 barrels of beer, 65 percent of it Spotted Cow. Carey used 5 million pounds of barley, but only 5 percent of that was from Wisconsin. This year, Carey expects to brew 165,000 to 170,000 barrels of beer and would ultimately like locally grown barley to account for 33 percent of what he uses.

Average barley yield in 2013, according to the USDA, was 49 bushels per acre but 80 to 100 bushels per acre is the goal for farmers growing barley for craft beer.

“We’ll see how this year goes, but if we do well, yes, we’d certainly be interested in upping our production next year,” said Gratz, the farmer.

Barley is in high demand from craft brewers who use about 50 pounds of barley per barrel compared to about 16 pounds per barrel by larger beer companies that specialize in lighter beers, Carey said.

“Everyone wants to know where their barley is going, and I think there’s a great sense of ownership with farmers,” said Amy Germershausen, a regional sales manager with Malteurop. “They spend three, four months with it and they want to know where it ends up. And brewers want to know where their malt is coming from. It’s a nice circle.”


06 August, 2014