Barley is a crop that is typically harvested earlier than corn or cotton and used for livestock feed. But a West Texas farmer is exploring a new use for his barley crops—beer.
“The popularity and the potential is great,” John David Cass, barley farmer in Parmer County, said, according to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. “I think it’s going to be a real good fit for us out here.”
Barley is a cereal grain whose biggest acreage is in northern states such as Montana and North Dakota, according to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
Malting barley, the kind used for beer, is considered higher quality than forage barley.
“If it can be grown out here and the quality’s good, why not?” Calvin Trostle, agronomist for the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, said to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. “For some farmers, it could be a good opportunity.”
Texas brewers support an acreage jump.
“There isn’t enough Texas barley out there to satisfy the industry, but we would love to see that happen,” Charles Vallhonrat, executive director of the Texas Craft Brewers, said.
In Texas, there is a higher standard for malting barley than forage, Cass noted. Excessive heat causes the plant to mature too fast, and in return, leaves the farmer with too small of kernels.
“More trouble with heat is the stress it causes can raise protein levels too high,” Cass said, according to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. “High protein in wheat is great, but in barley can interfere with the release of enzymes in the malting process that give beer its flavor.”
The United States Department of Agriculture indicated that Texas growers plant about 30,000 acres of barley each year.
Texas is also home to 189 craft breweries in 2015, according to the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. Together, they produce about 1.1 million barrels of beer yearly.