How a new malting barley variety for California came to be

April 8, 2021 – Beer connoisseurs are constantly looking to try new brands, flavors, and varieties. The April 7^th, 2021 Sustainable, Secure Food Blog tells the story of how a new malting barley variety in California came to fruition.

Blogger Lynn Gallagher explains, “Barley was a popular crop in the Central Valley of California until more recently when modern irrigation allowed a switch from barley to more profitable wheat. However, when there was a major increase in small breweries and talk of a new malt house nearby, we decided to create a new malting barley variety.”

Creating the new variety, called Butta 12, was a 20-year process. Gallagher and her team obtained malting barley germplasm in the late 1990s from breeding programs. A program in Oregon had varieties with good malting quality, and one in Mexico had strains with better disease resistance. Hybridizing strains from these two sources formed the basis for their own breeding program.

After many years of strain evaluation, malt quality was evaluated at three scales. Single, six-foot rows were analyzed to sort through hundreds of strains. Plot samples, and eventual farmer field samples of the winning strains were then analyzed. Read the entire blog: https://sustainable-secure-food-blog.com/2021/04/07/how-a-new-malting-barley-variety-for-california-came-to-be/

About us: This blog is sponsored and written by members of the American Society of Agronomy and Crop Science Society of America. Our members are researchers and trained, certified professionals in the areas of growing our world’s food supply while protecting our environment. They work at universities, government research facilities, and private businesses across the United States and the world.