Brewers and malting houses have slowly transitioned to two-row barley over the years. Anheuser-Busch Regional Agronomy Manager Nikki Zahradka says it’s economics. “Our program is primarily switching over to two row varieties. That’s not new news we’ve been working on that for the past few years and been talking that through. Just like a grower, at the end of the day, the two rows are producing better yields for us in our malt plants and better efficiencies through the whole process.” The challenge is developing varieties adapted for the Northern Plains. Those varieties take 10 to 13 years to develop. “I think we’re all trying really hard to push it as fast as we can, but it’s going to take time.”
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