Promoting Canadian barley in a pandemic

Each summer, Alberta Barley works with partners to bring international buyers to Canada to tour the new barley crop, view the pristine growing conditions of the Canadian prairie, talk to farmers about their sustainable growing practices, and learn about the new malt barley varieties as they become available. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual promotion of the Canadian barley crop to international buyers had to be moved online.

Promotion of Canada’s barley is central to Alberta Barley’s mandate of improving the profitability of Alberta’s barley producers. International buyers are recognizing that Canada grows excellent barley for both feed and malting. As international supplies became limited, the Canadian Grain Commission recorded that exports of Canadian barley increased from 932 thousand metric tonnes in the 2015-16 crop year to almost 2.2 million metric tonnes during crop year 2019-20. This increase in exports has helped to improve the farmgate price for barley over this time period.

As travel restrictions began in the spring of 2020, Alberta Barley along with the Saskatchewan Barley Development Commission and the Canadian Malt Barley Technical Centre (CMBTC) worked to develop an alternative promotional plan that would be completely online. All three partners redirected resources toward building an online platform that featured continuous, real-time updates on the 2020 barley crop for international buyers. Filming of the online materials occurred throughout the 2020 growing season in both Alberta and Saskatchewan to prepare for the platform launch coinciding with the 2020 harvest.

The promotional website barleyharvest.ca is managed by the CMBTC and includes a variety of multimedia and informational content of interest to international buyers. Digital media on the site, including videos showcasing the new malt barley varieties filling in the fields, has brought buyers

an experience as close to an annual crop tour as possible. Interviews with producers allowed for the sharing of opinions on growing the different varieties and has encouraged international buyers to consider incorporating these varieties into their production. The harvest updates pre-empted international buyers’ questions on 2020 harvest weather and any concerns regarding quality that could be expected. Finally, an interactive quality map is able to provide the results of barley quality analysis from 25 locations across the Prairies, encapsulating a snapshot of the 2020 harvest quality parameters such as protein, germination energy, thousand kernel weight and plumpness.

While COVID-19 continues to disrupt business as normal, Alberta Barley remains committed to promoting our barley to international markets. While we wait to resume normal travel, we will continue to innovate and partner with organizations aiming to improve the exports of Canadian barley and the profitability of Alberta’s producers.