Malting Barley Assoc. recommends these malting barley varieties for 2017

barley field blue sky — There are two changes from the 2016 list.

Each year, the American Malting Barley Association (AMBA) releases its list of recommended malting barley varieties to U.S. growers. AMBA is a nonprofit trade association of 80 brewing, distilling and malting companies that are end-users for U.S. malting barley. The list is meant to inform U.S. producers which malting barley varieties the industry intends to use in the upcoming year. Some varieties will be used in large quantities and others are only utilized is niche markets so producers are encouraged to contact their local elevator, grain handler or processor to gauge market demand for any variety grown in their region prior to seeding.

There are two changes from the 2016 list. The two-row variety Merit, which was first recommended in 2000 is dropped from the list and the two-row LCS Genie is added. It should be noted that only recommendations for Merit are discontinued and that Merit 57 remains on the list. LCS Genie is a spring barley developed in Europe by Limagrain Cereal Seeds LLC. It has done well in U.S. trials and has short straw and low barley protein. With these changes from last year, the list of recommended malting barley varieties for 2017 is as follows: