E-Malt.com News article: 3392

USA: Increased irrigation and a new Anheuser-Busch elevator have led growers in northwestern North Dakota and northeastern Montana to devote more acres to barley in the past year, Associated Press revealed on October 3. Producers have been looking for higher malt barley prices since the Busch Agricultural Resources elevator opened in August 2003 in Sidney, a few miles across the border with North Dakota south of Williston.

Now, observers say growers across the region are ramping up their barley acreage, with some irrigating a crop once considered undesirable because of its nominal value. David Jacobson, general manager of the Busch facility, said the response from farmers has been "tremendous."

"Each year we've seen an increase in the acreage of malting barley planted," he said. Anheuser-Busch has worked in the region since 1999, but increased demand spurred the decision to build the 1.5 million-bushel elevator. The facility holds barley that eventually is shipped to the company's malting plant in Moorhead, Minn.

The company has said it may eventually buy 20 million bushels of malting barley from eastern Montana and western North Dakota. "Growers have always produced a good amount of barley in this region," Jacobson said. "We have seen, however, that several producers have switched the varieties they plant to meet our brewing needs."

Chet Hill, a value-added agriculture specialist with the Williston Research Extension Center, said more producers have started irrigating since finding out they can earn a premium for malt-quality barley. "There's a lot of new growers who maybe grew barley, but now in the last two years, a lot have come back on board," Hill said.

Montana Department of Agriculture spokesman Brent Poppe said irrigation growth in several areas of northeastern Montana also has revitalized the age-old cereal grain. "As we have all seen, Mother Nature can be pretty inconsistent and fickle when it comes to precipitation," he said.

Anheuser-Busch has contracted some acres at $3 per bushel, putting that barley the same price range as spring wheat, Hill said. The price has stayed high because the company is trying to build up its number of growers, he said.


05 October, 2004