Special Section: Barley

Bringing barley back
Barley growers pin hopes on beer, beta-glucan

By E. M. Morrison

Beer and beta-glucan could help revive Minnesota’s declining barley industry.

People are drinking more beer in China and Latin America, and that could boost demand for U.S. malting barley. The small grain could also become a major source of beta-glucan, a nutritional supplement touted for its health benefits.

In the past decade, barley production in Minnesota and the nation has plummeted, says Marvin Zutz, executive director of the Minnesota Barley Growers Association, and secretary of the National Barley Growers Association. U.S. barley acreage fell by nearly half between 1990 and 2004, to 4.5 million acres. In Minnesota, the drop in barley acres has been even more dramatic, plunging 85 percent since 1990, to just 130,000 acres last season.

Factors leading to this contraction include more imports from Canada; intensifying export competition from Australia, Canada and Ukraine; a barley disease epidemic in the 1990s; and competition for acreage from more-profitable corn and soybeans.

Barley returns have lagged behind new corn and bean varieties bred for the Northern Plains. In 2003, for example, Northern Plains barley earned an average of $16 per acre after operating costs - less than one-sixth the average net return from corn or beans, according to the USDA Economic Research Service.

Genetic improvements, better-yielding short-season varieties, and advances in row-crop machinery “have decreased the risk of growing corn and soybeans on the Northern Plains,” Zutz says. Other goals also influence farmers’ planting decisions, such as maintaining crop rotations that interrupt pest and disease cycles. Still, he adds, “the corn and soybean belt has moved north and west,” supplanting small grains.

Beer exports

U.S. farmers produced 280 million bushels of barley in 2004; Minnesota grew about 8 million bushels. A little over half the crop - most of it grown under contract with maltsters - will be used by the domestic beer industry. Barley that doesn’t make malting quality is used for livestock feed. More than 90 percent of the barley crop is consumed in the United States where demand is flat, Zutz says. So, “Our hope for growth is in the export markets.”

Mexico and China offer the best export prospects. Beer consumption is booming in Latin America, pushed by “a younger population, income growth and warm climate,” Zutz says. “We’re hoping to expand sales to these markets, where we can compete against the European Union in lower freight.”

China’s growing prosperity has made it the world’s largest consumer of beer and the leading importer of malting barley. U.S. barley’s superior quality is an important competitive advantage, Zutz says. “They grow malting barley in China, but it’s not as high quality as ours.”

Beta-glucan

Barley farmers are also exploring the market potential of barley beta-glucan, a soluble dietary fiber believed to lower serum cholesterol, strengthen the immune system and fight tumors. The National Barley Growers Association has been awarded USDA research money to fund clinical trials of barley beta-glucan at the University of Minnesota and several other research centers. AURI also helped fund the research.

If clinical trials demonstrate the health benefits of barley beta-glucan, growers could be looking at a brand new use for their crop, says Michael Sparby, AURI project director. Breeding programs to develop high-beta-glucan varieties would likely follow, he adds. “The ultimate goal would be to have a barley beta-glucan processing plant in Minnesota.”