Malt barley varieties tested in China

Commercial malting and brewing trials in China are paving the way for the adoption of better performing varieties in Canada, says an industry official.

The Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre (CMBTC) has been facilitating the shipment of container loads of new malting barley varieties to Chinese maltsters since 2017.

Those shipments are used in commercial production trials typically involving between 100 and 400 tonnes of the new varieties. A shipment usually contains enough barley to conduct at least two trials.

“This has proven to be very popular with the Chinese,” said CMBTC managing director Peter Watts.

“They really appreciate it.”

Chinese maltsters are reluctant to change varieties.

“They like what they know,” he said.

It is a challenge to convince them to “test-drive” new varieties.

“What we argue and explain to the end users is that in order for barley to be a competitive cropping option for Canadian farmers, we need to get these new varieties accepted,” said Watts.

Barley has to compete with the new high-yielding wheat varieties and also offer growers better disease packages and lodging resistance.