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Prairie Grains is the official publication of
the Minnesota
Association of
Wheat Growers,
North Dakota Grain Growers Association,
South Dakota Wheat, Inc., and the Minnesota Barley Growers Association.

The North Dakota Barley Council, Minnesota Barley Growers Association, and North Dakota Grain Growers Association, are urging federal officials to come up with a better way of measuring and compensating for malting barley quality losses.

John Mittleider, executive director of the NDBC, says that the Dakotas and Minnesota have historically accounted for two-thirds of the total malting barley utilized by the U.S. malting and brewing industry, with an average annual sales value of over $300 million. Today, however, less than 20% of the malting barley is obtained from this region due to the incidence of deoxynivalenol (DON), a contaminant produced by the scab fungus.

Barley containing between 0.5 and 3.0 parts per million DON generally is discounted by as much as $1.00 per bushel, depending on market conditions, says Mittleider. However, malting barley quality losses to DON are difficult to substantiate in marketplace sales records, and DON losses are not adequately covered under current federal crop insurance policies.

The crop disaster relief package announced by the Clinton Administration also does not adequately address malting barley losses. Mittleider and other barley leaders are advocating a modification to assist with quality losses: If a grower producers barley in a FCIC-eligible malting barley county that has unacceptably high concentrations of DON, multiply the FCIC price differential between feed and malting barley (50 cents per bushel under open market policy) times the individual producer’s Actual Production History (under the basic policy) times the production acreage to determine the level of loss by producer. Payment for crop quality losses could be pro-rated based on the availability of funds.

"We believe this would be a fair and equitable method of providing assistance to barley farmers who have had to sustain multiple years of quality losses without the support of federal crop insurance products," says Mittleider.

UM names Smith to barley breeding, genetics position

Dr. Kevin Smith has been selected as assistant professor of barley breeding and genetics research in the University of Minnesota’s Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics. Smith, who started Dec. 1, 1998, will work in close collaboration with Dr. Don Rasmusson, longtime barley breeder at the U of M, for a two-year period prior to Rasmusson’s retirement. Support during this transition is being provided by the Minnesota Barley Research and Promotion Council, and the American Malting Barley Association.

Smith’s plant pathology and molecular genetics expertise will be put to good use in breeding for disease resistance, while maintaining yield and malting quality in barley, says Marv Zutz, executive director of the MBRPC.

Smith received a BS degree in botany and MS and PhD degrees in plant breeding and genetics, all from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a native of Rochester, MN. Before accepting his new position, Smith had been working on barley gene mapping in a postdoctoral position in the laboratory of Dr. Gary Muehlbauer, U of M molecular geneticist.

USGC to host Value-Enhanced Grains Conference Feb 7-9

The U.S. Grains Council’s first value-enhanced conference two years ago was an experiment - a chance to find out how bringing together producers, agribusiness and international customers could promote high-value export markets. The experiment worked, and the USGC, funded in part by the Minnesota Barley Research and Promotion Council, is holding a second International Value-Enhanced Grains Conference in Orlando, Fla., Feb. 7-9, 1999.

nternational attendance will be more than double that of the first conference, says Mike Seeger, USGC, and a barley producer from Red Lake Falls, MN. "We’ve got a great opportunity for U.S. agriculture and international customers to succeed together by achieving the next great step in value-enhanced marketing," he says.

The opening reception includes a "Fashions for the Earth" show of grain starch-based degradable clothing.   Session topics include high amylose, waxy, hulless barley; processing methods and feed formulation of barley/sorghum; varietal developments to improve nutritional characteristics in barley/sorghum; and international acceptance and consumer attitudes toward biotech products. For more information, contact the USGC, ph. 202-789-0789 or on the web: www.grains.org.