Canadian barley remains a bright spot

It is hard to believe that this time last year, there was so much uncertainty during the first wave of the pandemic and its effects on the Canadian grain industry including grain market prices, supply chain logistics and farmer safety amongst numerous other concerns. While today, over a year later, there is plenty of optimism in our industry, particularly for barley growers.

On the markets-front, it is a good time to be a barley grower! Over the past year, we have seen some of the strongest feed barley prices in history, which in-turn has forced maltsters to increase their bids as well. These strong prices attribute to various factors but strong export demand of Canadian barley to China and Japan remain a bright spot.

April 29, 2021 the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre (CMBTC) published a report of preliminary 2021 seeding estimates. At 8.613 million acres, this year will be the largest barley seeded area in Canada since 2009. The report also indicated that Alberta remains to have the highest seeded barley acres, although Saskatchewan is expected to have nearly a 25 per cent increase from last year. Additionally, across the various Canadian crops, barley is forecast to see the largest increase of seeded acres from 2020 to 2021; a 13.9 per cent increase.

While the current Canadian barley market is positive, there could not be a better time for us to be gearing-up to celebrate the Alberta Barley Commission’s 30-year anniversary. You will see more on this come fall, as the 2021-22 fiscal year will officially mark 30 years for Alberta Barley. We have a few exciting things planned. Stay tuned here!

Lastly, as addressed in my previous chair’s message in the spring edition of the newsletter, we continue to work closely with Sask Barley and the CMBTC to align the Canadian barley value chain and progress the wind-down of the Barley Council of Canada (BCC). This includes identifying the groups that will absorb the key functions of market access, market development, research and policy at the national level. This work is set to end and BCC will be transitioned effective August 1, 2021. For any questions on the wind-down of BCC, I encourage you to connect with myself, Alberta Barley’s general manager Tom Steve, or chief operating officer Syeda Khurram.