Barley Quality

Barley Quality

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
I called Kelly Olsen, Administrator for the Idaho Barley Commission and asked her about the status of this year's barley crop in Idaho. "Very good. Big recovery from last year. Bigger acres. We are expecting outstanding yields. Quality overall is probably going to be average but we will take average. Particularly after last year were quality was disastrous when it was all finished after month-long excessive moisture at harvest time. We are seeing some periodic showers. Those are a little bit worrisome throughout Eastern Idaho but nothing compared to the year before where we had 4 to 5 inch rain events on several consecutive days and weeks. We aren't saying anything like that and it is supposed to clear up and be warm here for a long stretch and we'll take that. Unfortunately, earlier in the season during grain fill we also had that excessive heat there in June and a lot of our crop was earlier this year because we had a mild winter. People planted early so it was an early crop and that heat in June, here in the Boise area there were 10 consecutive days above 100° and in Eastern Idaho 10 consecutive days above 95°. It took its toll on plump kernels. But we will take that.
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