Maltsters and Brewers Purchased 26.9 Million Bushels of the 2008 Montana Barley Crop
Released: September 8, 2009 For more information contact: Carmen Pennington or Steve Anderson at 1-800-835-2612.
Maltsters and brewers purchased 26.9 million bushels of Montana’s 2008 barley crop to make malt, up 38 percent from 2007 and up 25 percent from the 2006 crop year, according to a recent survey conducted by the USDA, NASS, Montana Field Office. The survey was requested and funded by the Montana Wheat and Barley Committee. The average protein of the 2008 malting crop was 12.1 percent, which is 0.6 points lower than the average protein of the 2007 crop. Average plumpness increased 11 percentage points from the 2007 crop to 90 percent. Montana growers planted 860,000 acres of barley in 2008, down 40,000 acres from 2007. Of the total, approximately 68 percent or 588,000 acres were planted to malting barley varieties. The malt barley utilized represented 71 percent of the 2008 total barley crop, compared with 61 percent in 2007 and 69 percent utilized in 2006. AC Metcalfe was the most frequently purchased variety by maltsters and brewers this year. AC Metcalfe, an Anheuser Busch variety, accounted for 33 percent of the total purchases. Harrington, Conrad, and Merit were also commonly purchased varieties at 21, 12, and 11 percent of the total, respectively. Fifty-nine percent of all malt barley purchased was grown in North Central Montana compared with 59 percent of the previous year’s crop and 48 percent of the 2006 crop. Thirteen percent was purchased from the South Central district, and 11 percent of the total was purchased from the Northeast district growers.
This survey was requested and funded by the Montana Wheat and Barley Committee. Special thanks to the maltsters, brewers, and grain elevators that cooperated in furnishing data.
USDA, NASS-MT Field Office Steve Anderson, Director Carmen Pennington, Agricultural Statistician	Montana Department of Agriculture Ron de Yong, Director	Montana Wheat & Barley Committee Kimberly Falcon, Executive Vice President
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