The barley industry hopes to develop the barley feed market in order to enhance profitability and diversify market risks. Current production primarily focuses on the beer market.
By establishing a feed market, producers would have an alternative market for barley that does not comply with the strict product specifications of the beer market, said Leon Groenewald, chairperson of the Barley Industry Committee. The renewed interest in the feeding market was sparked by rising maize prices. These were the result of high demand for maize as feedstock for biodiesel and the international shortage of grain due to the drought conditions in Australia. “Maize is becoming extremely expensive as animal feed and this offers an opportunity for other substitute feed products.
Barley has a high feeding value – around 80% of the feeding value of maize – and it is therefore an ideal substitute for maize especially on dairy farms,” Groenewald said. The success of this marketing endeavour would depend on the industry’s ability to maintain production at sustainable volumes.
One of the largest obstacles to the development of this market in the past was the lack of sufficient supply. Groenewald did not foresee this as a challenge: “The problem in the past was that barley feed production was not economically justified due to the low prices attained for it. Producers will easily be able to maintain this market if the prices are right.”
Developing new cultivars for this market would be extremely expensive. For this reason, the industry will now undertake a thorough data analysis of cultivars not released for production, because they did not satisfy the strict criteria for the beer industry. This will determine whether there are cultivars that would be more suitable for the feed market. Groenewald pointed out that the strict criteria for malt cultivars are often not conducive for high yields. He hoped that the data analysis will reveal a cultivar with high protein and yield. Producing barley at higher yields will mean farmers would be able to supply the market at cheaper prices, he explained. Groenewald added that the industry is not planning to substitute barley production for beer with the feed industry, but that they wanted to expand production to supply both markets. – Glenneis Erasmus
