Project overview
Western Washington is a tremendously productive region for growing cereals, pulse crops, and vegetable seed. These crops works well in crop rotation with vegetables, forage/hay, and other crops. Simultaneously, rapidly growing specialty grain markets (such as the craft malting, brewing and distilling industries) are hungry for product that can be traced back to the farmer. It is a great time for developing connections between growers and the these industries, to help farmers stay in business with higher value markets, and to bring unique flavors and higher nutrition to customers while providing opportunities for the end consumer to proudly support our region’s farmers.
This specialty grain program is focused on evaluating cereal, pulse and seed crops for value-added production in Southwestern WA. This includes work on craft beverage markets, market and production assessments need and opportunity for infrastructure investment, field trials and demonstrations, and on-farm workshops.
Save the Date: Cascadia Grains Conference January 17th – 18th, 2020:
https://www.cascadiagrains.com/westside-conference
Barley Varieties for Craft Brewing, Malting, and Distilling
This study evaluated barley varieties for Western Washington Production, and sales to the local and regional craft beverage industry. Varieties were tested for unique flavors among the diverse germplasm in the WSU barley breeding program. The barley variety Palmer was evaluated, and recently released. The final report provides farmers and brewers with variety data on Palmer (107.43 in this study), and others. Watch for release of 120.17 and 120.14. The report provides agronomic information about locally-adapted, and grain and malt quality data.
- For a full project description click here: WSU BIOAg proposal – 17.05.11_for website
- The 2019 Tumwater Artesian Brewfest was held August 17th from 1pm to 8pm to sample beers made from (among other sources) barley grown in the Chehalis Basin. WSU Conducted a sensory evaluation of barley varieties for craft brewing and distilling – specifically for unique flavors from malted barley. Watch a short video about the research effort here: https://vimeo.com/348419062/7b3e403223. Research results will be posted on this page in early 2020.
- 2018 Research Project Annual Report
- 2018 Annual report for the WSU CSANR “BIOAg” granting program: BioAg Report 2018_Ground-Glass_Annual.
- 2019 Final report for the WSU CSANR “BIOAg” granting program: BIOAg_Barley_Final_2019
- Specialty grain market assessment
- Initial results from a south Puget Sound regional grain grower survey: Grain grower survey results. 3-pg data summary available: Grain Grower Survey – selected results.
- Initial results from a south Puget Sound regional grain buyer survey: Grain buyer survey results. 3-pg data summary available: Grain Buyer Survey – selected results.
- Grain and malting quality of unique barley varieties:initial study data summarized in a hand-out for the 2018 Barley Variety Trials Field Day held in Adna, WA on July 19th, 2018: Barley Field Day Handout_2018
Download Graphic: Brewfest Tri-Fold