Final report for LNE15-339

Summary:

The local foods movement continues to create new markets for farmers. The problem is that the demand for local grains often exceeds the supply of high quality product. One such market is that of grain for malting. The opening of new malt operations in VT, MA, NY, and Quebec has given farmers an opportunity to produce a high value grain. These businesses have the potential to purchase at least 750,000 lbs of grains yearly. Unfortunately, current production of grain for malting has not met the demand. Grains for malting grow well in the Northeast, but farmers lack the information needed to produce grains that meet the high quality standards necessary for malting. Therefore, new knowledge is needed to help these farms be successful meeting the market demand for malt grains.

We hypothesized that implementation of appropriate practices would increase the volume of grain that meets the strict malting standards. Research was conducted to evaluate best practices for growing winter malting barley in the Northeast. Agronomic studies focused on evaluation of varieties, planting date, seeding rate, and nitrogen management were initiated in Alburgh, Vermont and Deerfield, Massachusetts. Research indicated that winter barley is a risky crop for the northern areas of New England with 1 out of 3 years producing a successful crop. Further breeding for winter tolerance will be required before farmers can safely incorporate this crop into their system. Spring barley is a logical choice for farmers north of MA. Planting winter barley by the 3^rd week of September at a slightly higher seeding rate (500 seeds m^-2) resulted in the least winter injury and highest yields. Nitrogen amendments in the spring proved to be advantageous especially to boosting yield. Further research is needed to explore fall N applications in combination with spring N applications to boost yield and protein of the crop.

The goal of the educational was to increase farmer knowledge base on producing grains for malting. Outreach included 8 on-farm field days, 3 malt house/brewery tours, 4 conference sessions focused on malt grains, and a 3 part YouTube video series. A booklet on best strategies for growing malting quality grains in the Northeast was developed and post online.

Through the research and educational program, this project provided information on growing malt grains to over 1000 farmers and 600 service providers throughout the northeastern states, Quebec, Ontario, and the Canadian Maritimes. Of the 31 farmers (14 new barley growers and 17 established growers) growing barley on 1068 acres reporting directly on the project outcomes, 78% indicated that they were able to improve farm viability. As a result, of information gained from this project, farmers reported the economic value gained for their business ranged from $1,000 up to $200,000 per farm with a total impact of approximately $778,000. This was likely because 70% reported increased yields, 85% increased their ability to meet quality standards, and 93% indicated they had better access to markets.

Performance Target:

Twenty-five farms in the Northeast will implement new production strategies on 500 acres of grain for malting that result in 450,000 lbs of grain making marketable malt with a value of $160,000 while the remaining 300,000 lbs of grain make the feed grade market with a value of $45,000.

Goals & Objectives

The goal of this project is to enhance the capacity of farmers to produce high quality malt barley to meet the increasing demand from end-users.

Objective one is to develop best agronomic practices related to variety selection, planting date, seeding rate, and nitrogen rate for winter barley grown in the northeast.

The hypothesis is that if regionally specific agronomic practices are developed for growing malt grain than farmers will have better success in meeting the standards for this market. Implementation of appropriate practices such as adapted varieties, adequate nitrogen rate and timing, application of disease controls as well as proper planting dates and seed rates will more often result in grain that meets the strict malting standards.

Objective two is to develop a robust and diverse educational and outreach program to provide barley growers with best production information on growing high quality barley in the northeast.

The hypothesis is that partnerships formed between researchers and outreach professionals, end-users and farmers will expedite the development, transfer, and implementation of best practices to produce marketable grains for malting, and in doing so; will contribute to the long-term profitability and sustainability of farms in the Northeast.

Introduction:

The local foods movement continues to create new markets for farmers. The problem is that the demand for local grains often exceeds the supply of high quality product. One such market is that of grain for malting. The recent opening of 6 new malt operations in VT, MA, NY, and Quebec has given farmers an opportunity to produce a high value grain. These businesses have the potential to purchase at least 750,000 lbs of grains yearly. Unfortunately, current production of grain for malting has not met the demand and hence there is opportunity for at least 25 farmers to grow malt grains on 500 plus acres. Grains for malting grow well in the Northeast, but farmers lack the information needed to produce high quality grains for malt. Therefore new knowledge is needed to help these farms be successful meeting the market demand for malt grains.

There is interest in grain production throughout the Northeast as evidenced by increased membership of the Northern Grain Growers Association (NGGA), attendance at outreach events, and requests for information. For example, The NGGA conference attendance has doubled in the last two years with well over 200 attendees. In the last year local malt companies have worked with 10 farmers to procure grains for malting and recent opening of several new companies will provide markets for at least 15 additional farms.

We hypothesize that implementation of appropriate practices such as adapted disease resistant varieties; proper planting dates, optimum nitrogen rates, and seed rates will more often result in grain that meets the strict malting standards. Small plot and on-farm research will develop and evaluate best practices for growing barley for malting. Trials will identify commercially available and heirloom germplasm that are adapted to the Northeast climate. Agronomic studies on planting date, nitrogen management and disease control will be initiated.

The educational approach is to develop a collaborative outreach program that will increase farmer knowledge base on producing grains for malting. Outreach will include on-farm research, workshops, conferences, YouTube series addressing critical grain quality parameters, and booklet on best strategies for growing malting quality grains in the Northeast. Results will be reviewed by the project advisors and made available on-line from various regional websites.

Click linked name(s) to expand/collapse or show everyone's info

Dr. Masoud Hashemi
masoud@umass.edu
Extension Associate Professor
University of Massachusetts
207 Bowditch Hall
201 Natural Resources Road
Amherst, MA 01003-9294
(413) 545-1843 (office)
Gene L'Etoile
4 Star Farms
496 Pine Meadow Rd
Northfield, MA 01360
(413) 498-2968 (office)
Jack Lazor
jack@buttworks.com
Butterworks Farm
Trumpass Road
Westfield, VT 05874
(802) 999-7722 (office)
Andrea Stanley
andrea@valleymalt.com
Owner
Valley Malt
Main Street
Hadley, MA 01035
(413) 349-9098 (office)

Hypothesis:

Hypothesis: If regionally specific agronomic practices are developed for growing malt grain than farmers will have better success in meeting the standards for this market. Implementation of appropriate practices such as adapted varieties, adequate nitrogen rate and timing, application of disease controls as well as proper planting dates and seed rates will more often result in grain that meets the strict malting standards.

Materials and methods:

WINTER BARLEY SEEDING RATE BY COVER CROP TRIAL

The winter barley trial was carried out in Alburgh, VT and Amherst, MA between 2015 and 2017. The experimental design was a randomized complete block with split-split plots and four replicates. The main plots were fertility building cover crops tilled into the soil prior to planting the winter barley crop. Three cover crop treatments (crimson clover, sun hemp, and a crimson clover/sun hemp mix) were planted in early August of 2016 and 2017. The cover crops were incorporated into the soil prior to planting the winter barley crop. The first split plot was two varieties of winter barley (Endeavor and Wintmalt) were planted at the end of September in 2016 and 2017. The second split plot was three seeding rates (300, 400 and 500 seeds per square meter). The seedbed was prepared by conventional tillage methods. Plots were 5’ x 20’. Cover crop biomass samples were collected the 3rd week of September in 2016 and 2017. Two 0.25m² quadrats of biomass per replicate were collected and were dried, weighed, ground, and analyzed for nitrogen content. Winter survival was assessed by a visual estimate in early May of each year.

All varieties were harvested with an Almaco SPC50 small plot combine near the end of July or early August. Following the harvest of winter barley, seed was cleaned with a small Clipper cleaner. A one-pound subsample was collected to determine quality. Quality measurements included standard testing parameters used by commercial malt houses. Harvest moisture was determined for each plot using a DICKEY-john M20P moisture meter. Test weight was measured using a Berckes Test Weight Scale, which weighs a known volume of grain. Subsamples were ground into flour using the Perten LM3100 Laboratory Mill, and were evaluated for crude protein content using the Perten Inframatic 8600 Flour Analyzer. In addition, falling number for all barley varieties was determined using the AACC Method 56-81B, AACC Intl., 2000 on a Perten FN 1500 Falling Number Machine. Samples were also analyzed for Deoxynivalenol (DON) using the Veratox DON 2/3 Quantitative test from the NEOGEN Corp. This test has a detection range of 0.5 to 5 ppm. Each sample was evaluated for seed germination by incubating 100 seeds in 4.0 mL of water for 72 hours and counting the number of seeds that did not germinate.

Data was analyzed using mixed model analysis procedure of SAS (SAS Institute, 1999). Replications were treated as random effects, and treatments were treated as fixed. Mean comparisons were made using the Least Significant Difference (LSD) procedure when the F-test was considered significant (p<0.10).

WINTER BARLEY PLANTING DATE BY NITROGEN RATE TRIAL

The winter barley trial was carried out in Alburgh, VT and Amherst, MA from 2015 to 2018. In Vermont, the 2016/2017 trial was winter-killed and hence the experiment was repeated again during the 2017/2018 growing season. The experimental design was a randomized complete block with split plots and four replicates. The main plots were planting date. The Wintmalt winter barley was planted at a seeding rate of 400 seeds m^2-1on 5-Sept, 15-Sept, and 25-Sept 2015 and 2016. In 2017, the trial was planted in Vermont only on 1-Sept, 14-Sept, and 28-Sept 2017. The split plot was nitrogen amendments. Plots received differing amounts of nitrogen in both fall and spring. Plots were fertilized with either no nitrogen or 25 lbs ac^-1the first week of October. Plots received either 0, 25, 50, 75 lbs ac^-1 in early spring. Nitrogen was applied as calcium ammonium nitrate (27-0-0). The seedbed was prepared by conventional tillage methods. Plots were 5’ x 20’.

The barley was harvested in July and following the harvest, seed was cleaned with a small Clipper cleaner. A one-pound subsample was collected to determine quality. Quality measurements included standard testing parameters used by commercial malt houses. Harvest moisture was determined for each plot using a DICKEY-john M20P moisture meter. Test weight was measured using a Berckes Test Weight Scale, which weighs a known volume of grain. Subsamples were ground into flour using the Perten LM3100 Laboratory Mill, and were evaluated for crude protein content using the Perten Inframatic 8600 Flour Analyzer. In addition, falling number for all barley varieties was determined using the AACC Method 56-81B, AACC Intl., 2000 on a Perten FN 1500 Falling Number Machine. Samples were also analyzed for Deoxynivalenol (DON) using the Veratox DON 2/3 Quantitative test from the NEOGEN Corp. This test has a detection range of 0.5 to 5 ppm. Each variety was evaluated for seed germination by incubating 100 seeds in 4.0 mL of water for 72 hours and counting the number of seeds that did not germinate.

Data was analyzed using mixed model analysis procedure of SAS (SAS Institute, 1999). Replications were treated as random effects, and treatments were treated as fixed.

WINTER BARLEY VARIETY TRIALS

In the fall of 2015, 2016, and 2017, a winter malting barley variety trial was established at Borderview Research Farm in Alburgh, VT. The experimental plot design was a randomized complete block with three replications. The treatments were winter malting barley varieties. All plots were managed with practices similar to those used by producers in the surrounding areas. The previous crop planted at the site was winter wheat in 2015, rye in 2016, and spring barley in 2017. The trial area was plowed, disked and spike tooth harrowed to prepare for planting. The plots were seeded with a Great Plains NT60 Cone Seeder by the third week of September at a seeding rate of 140 lbs ac-1 into a Benson rocky silt loam. Plot size was 5’x 20’. A visual assessment of populations, winter survival, and vigor was conducted the second week of May. In 2016 and 2017, the trial was winter-killed and there was no grain harvest. In 2018 Flowering dates were recorded when at least 50% of the plot was in bloom. A visual assessment of population, survival, vigor, and bird damage was recorded. Population was measured in both fall 2017 and spring 2018 to establish the survival rate of each plot. To determine population, the number of plants in two twelve inch sections of a row were recorded. On 20-Jun 2018, plots were scouted for bird damage. Bird damage was assessed by visually determining what percentage birds had affected.

Barley heights and lodging were measured right before harvest. The height of three plants were measured, excluding awns. Lodging was measured visually on a scale of 0 to 5, 0 indicating no lodging, 1 indicating minimal lodging, and 5 indicating completely lodged and cannot be harvested. All plots were harvested on 12-Jul, 2018 using an Almaco SPC50 small plot combine. Winter barley was cleaned with a small Clipper cleaner (A.T. Ferrell, Bluffon, IN). After cleaning grains, harvest moistures, test weight, and yield were calculated. Harvest moisture and test weight was measured using a Dicky-john mini GAC moisture and test weight meter (Auburn, IL).

A one-pound subsample was collected to determine quality. Quality measures included crude protein, flour moisture, falling number, germination energy, plumpness and thins, and deoxynivalenol (DON) concentration. Percent germination (germination energy) was determined by incubating 100 seeds in 4.0 ml of water for 72 hours and counting the number of seeds that did not germinate. Each sample was completed in duplicate. Grain assortment or plumpness was determined using the Pfeuffer Sortimat (Kitzingen, Germany) using 100g of clean seed, and was determined by combining the amount of seed remaining on the 2.78mm and 2.38mm sieves. Once germination and plumpness was determined, the samples were then ground into flour using the Perten LM3100 Laboratory Mill, and were evaluated for crude protein content using the Perten Inframatic 8600 Flour Analyzer. In addition, falling number for all barley varieties were determined using the AACC Method 56-81B, AACC Intl., 2000 on a Perten FN 1500 Falling Number Machine. The falling number is related to the level of sprout damage that has occurred in the grain. It is measured by the time it takes, in seconds, for a stirrer to fall through a slurry of flour and water to the bottom of the tube. Deoxynivalenol (DON) concentration was analyzed using Veratox DON 5/5 Quantitative test from the NEOGEN Corp. This test has a detection range of 0.5 to 5 ppm. Samples with DON values greater than 1 ppm are considered unsuitable for human consumption. The DON concentrations were measured on the first replicate of the experiment. If high DON concentrations were detected, additional replicates were analyzed.

All data was analyzed using a mixed model analysis where replicates were considered random effects. The LSD procedure was used to separate cultivar means when the F-test was significant (P< 0.10).

Research results and discussion:

WINTER BARLEY VARIETY BY SEEDING RATE BY COVER CROP TRIAL

Alburgh, VT Trial Results 2015/2016

In 2015/2016, seasonal precipitation and temperature recorded at a weather station in Alburgh, VT are shown in Table 1. Historical averages are for 30 years of data (1981-2010). Fall conditions were above average for temperature and below average for precipitation. While April was colder than normal, the rest of the spring and summer growing season was also both warmer and drier than average. There were 5323 Growing Degree Days (GDDs) in the eight month winter barley growing season, 278 more growing-degree-days than the 30-year average.

Table 1. Weather data for winter barley variety trial in Alburgh, VT.

Alburgh, VT	Sep-15	Oct-15	Nov-15	Mar-16	Apr-16	May-16	Jun-16	Jul-16
Average temperature (°F)	65.2	46.5	42.2	33.9	39.8	58.1	65.8	70.7
Departure from normal	4.70	-1.60	4.00	2.90	-4.90	1.80	0.00	0.10

Precipitation (inches)	0.3	2.5	1.8	2.51	2.56	1.53	2.81	1.79
Departure from normal	-3.30	-1.09	-1.30	0.29	-0.26	-1.92	-0.88	-2.37

Growing Degree Days (base 32°F)	1010	464	329	209	291	803	1017	1201
Departure from normal	158	-37	117	85	-98	50	3	4

*Based on weather data from a Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2 with WeatherLink data logger. Historical averages are for 30 years of NOAA data (1981-2010) from Burlington, VT.

There were significant differences in populations, winter survival, yield, test weight, DON levels, and germination rate between treatments. There were no differences in between treatments in crude protein, falling number, or harvest moisture. Across trial, there were low DON levels, low test weight and low harvest moisture. There was also high falling number across the trial, with all treatments well above the 250 second industry minimum standard.

Impact of Seeding Rate:

The seeding rate treatments differed significantly in populations, winter survival, and germination (Table 2). The 500 seeds m²treatment had the best winter survival at 99% survival. This was significantly higher than the other two treatments (p=0.01). The 400 seeds m²treatment had the highest germination at 92%. This was significantly different than the 500 seeds m²treatment at 86% germination but not significantly higher than the 300 seeds m² treatment at 87% germination (p=0.01).

Table 2. Impact of seeding rate on barley harvest and quality, Alburgh, VT, 2015.

Seeding	Populations	Winter Survival	Harvest moisture	Test	Harvest
rate	Populations	Winter Survival	Harvest moisture	weight	yield
lbs ac^-1	plants m²	%	%	lbs bu^-1	lbs ac^-1
300	400	85	12.3	40.5	2447
400	420	88	12.2	39.5	2572
500	493*	99*	11.2	38.7	2835
LSD (0.1)	68	10.8	NS	NS	NS
Trial mean	438	91	11.9	39.6	2618

Seeding	Crude protein	DON	Falling	Germination
rate	@ 12% moisture	DON	number	Germination
lbs ac^-1	%	ppm	seconds	%
300	8.52	0.16	399	87.5*
400	7.91	0.14	392	92.1*
500	7.85	0.10	411	85.8
LSD (0.1)	NS	NS	NS	4.6
Trial mean	8.09	0.13	401	88.5

*Treatments with an asterisk are not significantly different than the top performer in bold.

NS – No significant difference amongst treatments.

Impact of Cover Crop:

Cover crops tilled into the soil before the winter barley crop significantly impacted the yield of barley (Table 3). The control treatment with no cover crop had the highest yield. This was statisistically similar to the crimson clover and cover crop mix treatments, but higher than the sun hemp treatment (p=0.02). Cover crop treatment did not impact the quality of the barley (Table 4).

Table 3. Impact of cover crop on barley harvest and quality, Alburgh, VT, 2016.

Cover	Populations	Winter Survival	Harvest moisture	Test	Harvest
crop	Populations	Winter Survival	Harvest moisture	weight	yield
	plants m²	%	%	lbs bu^-1	lbs ac^-1
Control	417	91	11.3	40.7	2953*
Crimson Clover	461	88	11.1	39.9	2868*
Sun Hemp	424	85	12.7	39.8	2240
Mix	449	98	12.5	38	2411*
LSD (0.1)	NS	NS	NS	NS	544
Trial mean	438	91	11.9	39.6	2618

Cover	Crude protein	DON	Falling	Germination
crop	@ 12% moisture		number	Germination
	%	ppm	seconds	%
Control	8.24	0.11	394	86.8
Crimson Clover	8.38	0.17	410	87.9
Sun Hemp	8.31	0.10	394	91.1
Mix	7.44	0.16	404	88.1
LSD (0.1)	NS	NS	NS	NS
Trial mean	8.09	0.13	401	88.5

*Treatments with an asterisk are not significantly different than the top performer in bold.

NS – No significant difference amongst treatments.

Impact of Variety:

Variety displayed the most significant differences of the treatments tested in this trial, with significant differences between the Wintmalt and Endeavor varieites in populations, winter survival, test weight, yield, DON levels, and germination (Table 4). Wintmalt had higher populations and winter survival than Endeavor (p<0.01). Wintmalt yielded 3209 lbs ac^-1 while Endeavor yielded 2027 lbs ac^-1, over 1000 less lbs ac^-1(p<0.01). Wintmalt also had higher test weight (p=0.01) although both were well below the industry standard of 48 lbs bu^-1. While Endeavor was higher in DON (p=0.09), both varieties tested far below 1 ppm standard for human consumption.

Table 4. Impact of variety on barley harvest and quality, Alburgh, VT, 2016.

	Populations	Winter Survival	Harvest moisture	Test	Harvest
Variety	Populations	Winter Survival	Harvest moisture	weight	yield
	plants m²	%	%	lbs bu^-1	lbs ac^-1
Endeavor	395	100*	12.5	38.2	2027
Wintmalt	480*	74	11.3	41*	3209*
LSD (0.1)	68	10.8	NS	2.7	544
Trial mean	438	87	11.9	39.6	2618

	Crude protein	DON	Falling	Germination
Variety	@ 12% moisture	DON	number	Germination
	%	ppm	seconds	%
Endeavor	8.28	0.17	391	90.8*
Wintmalt	7.91	0.09*	410	86.1
LSD (0.1)	NS	0.07	NS	88.5
Trial mean	8.09	0.13	401	4.6

*Treatments with an asterisk are not significantly different than the top performer in bold.

NS – No significant difference amongst treatments.

Interactions between treatments:

There were very few significant interactions between treatments. There was a significant interaction between variety and cover crop in terms of winter survival and yield (in both cases, the interaction was between the Endeavor variety and sun hemp/clover cover crop mix treatments). The Endeavor variety and cover crop mix demonstrated the poorest winter survival (p<0.01) and lowest yield at 1798 lbs ac^-1(p=0.02).

Alburgh, VT Trial Results 2016/2017

In 2016/2017, seasonal precipitation and temperature recorded at a weather station in Alburgh, VT are shown in Table 5. Historical averages are for 30 years of data (1981-2010). The mild fall weather, with warm temperatures and moderate precipitation, promoted good establishment of the winter barley crop during the fall growing season. Winter conditions were somewhat warmer than normal but there was very little snow cover to protect the barley from freezing during cold spells. While April was warmer than normal, the rest of the spring and summer growing season was cooler than average. There were 5208 Growing Degree Days (GDDs) in the eight month winter barley growing season, 311 more growing-degree-days than the 30-year average. The last three months of the growing season were damp and lower than normal in temperature and growing degree days, leading to later maturation and delayed harvest until the end of July.

Table 5. Weather data for winter barley variety trial in Alburgh, VT.

Alburgh, VT	Sep-16	Oct-16	Nov-16	Mar-17	Apr-17	May-17	Jun-17	Jul-17
Average temperature (°F)	63.6	50.0	40.0	25.1	47.2	55.7	65.4	68.7
Departure from normal	3.03	1.80	1.82	-6.05	2.37	-0.75	-0.39	-1.90

Precipitation (inches)	2.50	5.00	3.00	1.60	5.20	4.10	5.60	4.90
Departure from normal	-1.17	1.39	-0.13	-0.63	2.40	0.68	1.95	0.73

Growing Degree Days (base 32°F)	949	559	270	98	459	733	1002	1138
Departure from normal	91	57	85	98	75	-23	-12	-60

*Based on weather data from a Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2 with WeatherLink data logger. Historical averages are for 30 years of NOAA data (1981-2010) from Burlington, VT.

Summary of results:

There were significant differences between treatments in cover crop nitrogen content, heading date, height, lodging, yield, harvest moisture, test weight, crude protein, falling number, DON levels, and germination. Across trial, there were high DON levels. There was somewhat low falling number across the trial, with most samples tested falling below the 250 second industry minimum standard. There was a significant interaction between seeding rate, cover crop and variety in winter survival. There were significant interactions between seeding rate and cover crop in both height and yield. There was a significant reaction between seeding rate and variety in DON.

Interactions between treatments

There was significant interaction between seeding rate, cover crop and variety affecting winter survival (p=0.03). Six combinations had winter survival less than 50%, while another six combinations had winter survival greater than 85% (Figure 1). The Wintmalt variety had higher winter survival than the Endeavor variety, and did particularly well with higher seeding rates and the clover and/or cover crop mixes. The Endeavor variety did not over winter well especially with lower seeding rates.

There was a significant interaction between seeding rate and cover crop in terms of height (p=0.04) and yield (p=0.01) (Figure 2). Higher seeding rates without cover crops resulted in the tallest barley plants regardless of seeding rate. Lower seeding rates and cover crops produced shorter plants than higher seeding rates and the control (no cover crop treatment). Higher seeding rates and incorporation of cover cops resulted in higher yields that the control. However with lower seeding rates without cover crops outperformed the cover crop treatments. It is possible that extra nitrogen provided by the cover crop treatments helped to increase barley yields under high seeding rates.

Finally, there was a significant interaction between seeding rate and variety affecting DON levels (p=0.04) (Figure 3). Across the experiment, Wintmalt barley had lower DON levels than the Endeavor variety. In general for both varieties, the lowest seeding rate also had the lowest DON levels. This may indicate a link between seeding rate and DON concentrations.

Impact of Seeding Rate:

The seeding rates treatments had significant differences in winter survival, yield, crude protein, falling number, and DON (Table 6). The 500 seeds m²treatment had the best winter survival at 75.6% survival. This was significantly similar to the 400 seeds m²treatment at 70.8%. The 500 seeds m²treatment had the highest yield at 2268 lbs ac^-1, significantly higher than the other two seeding rates (p=0.0008). The 300 seeds m²treatment had significantly higher crude protein levels at 10.7% (p=0.01) and significantly higher falling number at 225 seconds (p=0.03). The 500 seeds m²and 400 seeds m²treatment had significantly lower levels of DON (p=0.005) although all treatments were above the 1 ppm threshold for human consumption.

Table 6. Impact of seeding rate on barley harvest and quality, Alburgh, VT, 2017.

Seeding	Cover crop N ac^-1	Winter survival	Heading date	Height	Lodging
rate	Cover crop N ac^-1	Winter survival	Heading date	Height	Lodging
lbs ac^-1	lbs ac^-1	%		cm	%
300	28.2	64.1	6/10/2017	67.6	44.9
400	28.6	70.8^*	6/9/2017	67.2	47.1
500	28.6	75.6^*	6/8/2017	68.5	46.9
LSD (0.10)	NS	7.37	NS	NS	NS
Trial mean	28.5	70.2	6/9/2017	67.8	46.3

Seeding rate	Harvest moisture	Test weight	Harvest yield @13.5% moisture	Crude protein @ 12% moisture	DON	Falling number	Germination
lbs ac^-1	%	lbs bu^-1	lbs ac^-1	%	ppm	seconds	%
300	14.7	42.6	1787	10.7^*	3.10	224^*	84.0
400	14.2	43.4^*	1977	10.3	2.61^*	201	83.7
500	14.2	43.8^*	2268^*	10.1	2.38^*	199	89.0
LSD (0.10)	NS	0.68	203	0.33	0.36	17.5	NS
Trial mean	14.4	43.3	2011	10.4	2.70	208	85.6

Impact of Cover Crop:

Cover crops tilled into the soil before the winter barley crop was significant in terms of nitrogen ac^-1, height, lodging, test weight, and falling number (Table 7). The crimson clover had the highest amount of N ac^-1, with 33.2 lbs N ac^-1. This was statistically similar to the cover crop mix with 30.1 lbs N ac^-1 (p<0.0001). The no cover crop control treatment resulted in significantly taller barley (71 cm) than the cover crop treatments (p=0.004). Barley grown following the crimson clover treatment had the least lodging, statistically similar to the sun hemp and control treatments. Barley grown following sun hemp had significantly lower test weights than the other three treatments as well as significantly lower falling number (p=0.05). Cover crop treatment did not significantly impact crude protein concentrations.

Table 7. Impact of cover crop on barley harvest and quality, Alburgh, VT, 2017.

Cover crop	Cover crop N ac^-1	Winter survival	Heading date	Height	Lodging
	Cover crop N ac^-1	Winter survival	Heading date	Height	Lodging
	lbs ac^-1	%		cm	%
Control	28.1	73.1	6/9/2017	71.0^*	47.8^*
Crimson Clover	33.2^*	72.5	6/9/2017	66.0	41.3^*
Sun Hemp	22.7	66.9	6/9/2017	67.4	44.1^*
Mix	30.1^*	68.1	6/9/2017	66.7	52.1
LSD (0.1)	3.24	NS	NS	2.37	9.35
Trial mean	28.5	70.2	6/9/2017	67.8	46.3

Cover crop	Harvest moisture	Test weight	Harvest yield @13.5% moisture	Crude protein @ 12% moisture	DON	Falling number	Germination
Cover crop	%	lbs bu^-1	lbs ac^-1	%	ppm	seconds	%
Control	14.3	43.1^*	2054	10.5	2.70	213^*	85.8
Crimson Clover	14.2	43.9^*	2068	10.3	2.72	216^*	85.8
Sun Hemp	14.3	42.9	1860	10.4	2.70	193	85.5
Mix	14.5	43.1^*	2060	10.3	2.67	210^*	85.2
LSD (0.1)	NS	0.79	NS	NS	NS	20.2	NS
Trial mean	14.3	43.3	2011	10.4	2.70	208	85.6

*Treatments with an asterisk are not significantly different than the top performer in bold.

NS – No significant difference among treatments.

Impact of Variety:

Variety displayed the most significant differences of the treatments tested in this trial, with significant differences between the Wintmalt and Endeavor varieties in winter survival, heading date, lodging, yield, harvest moisture, test weight, crude protein, falling number, DON and germination (Table 8). Wintmalt had higher yields and tested better for most quality parameters. Wintmalt had higher winter survival (86.4%) and higher yield (2455 lbs ac^-1) (p<0.0001). Endeavor had statistically less lodging at 42% (p=0.03). Wintmalt had statistically lower harvest moisture (13.2%), higher test weight (44.2 lbs bu-1), and higher falling number (267 seconds) (p<0.0001). Wintmalt had significantly lower DON levels, although both varieties exceeded the 1 ppm threshold for human consumption. Endeavor had higher crude protein levels (11.1%, p<0.0001) and higher germination rates (89.5%, p=0.005).

Table 8. Impact of variety on barley harvest and quality, Alburgh, VT, 2017.

Variety	Cover crop N ac^-1	Winter survival	Heading date	Height	Lodging
	Cover crop N ac^-1	Winter survival	Heading date	Height	Lodging
	lbs ac^-1	%		cm	%
Endeavor	28.4	53.9	6/10/2017	68.3	42.0
Wintmalt	28.6	86.4	6/8/2017	67.3	50.6
LSD (0.1)	NS	6.01	NS	2.37	6.61
Trial mean	28.5	70.2	1 day	67.8	46.3

Variety	Harvest moisture	Test weight	Harvest yield @13.5% moisture	Crude protein @ 12% moisture	DON	Falling number	Germination
Variety	%	lbs bu^-1	lbs ac^-1	%	ppm	seconds	%
Endeavor	15.5	42.3	1566	11.1	3.33	149	89.5
Wintmalt	13.2	44.2	2455	9.7	2.06	267	81.6
LSD (0.1)	0.42	0.56	166	0.27	0.30	14.3	4.53
Trial mean	14.4	43.3	2011	10.4	2.70	208	85.6

*Treatments in bold performed significantly higher than the other treatment.

NS – No significant difference amongst treatments.

Deerfield, MA Trial Results 2015/2016

Sun Hemp (SH) and SH+Crimson Clover (CC) produced significantly higher biomass than CC alone, and contributed significantly higher amounts of all measured nutrients than CC alone. SH alone contributed 77 lbs N/ac, followed by SH+CC (53lbs/ac), while CC contributed only 13lbs N/ac. (Table 9).

Table 9. Cover crops aerial biomass and their potential nutrients recovery¹. University of Massachusetts, Agricultural

Research Farm, South Deerfield, MA, 2015.

Cover Crop

Biomass

(lbs/ac)

N (lbs/ac)

P (lbs/ac)

K (lbs/ac)

Ca

(lbs/ac)

Mg

(lbs/ac)

Lignin

(lbs/ac)

SH+CC

2274

a

52.9

a

4.3

a

58.2

a

24.8

a

7.2

a

215.4

a

CC

497

b

12.9

b

0.9

b

13.5

b

8.7

b

2.1

b

36.2

b

SH

2962

a

77.3

a

6.0

a

73.5

a

31.6

a

8.3

a

290.4

a

None

…

Treatment effects²

Cover crop ** ** ** ** ** ** **

¹Means with the same letter in each column are not significantly different from one another (Tukey’s HSD ranking p≤0.05)

² t indicates P≤0.1, *indicates a significant relationship or difference (P≤0.05), **indicates a highly significant relationship or difference (P≤0.01), ***(P≤0.001) indicates a very highly significant relationship or difference

Plots planted with SH alone had significantly higher soil nitrate at frost than plots planted with CC alone, or no cover crop. Plots planted with SH+CC did not have significantly different soil nitrate than any other treatments.

Cultivar type and seeding rate had no significant impact on soil nitrate at frost. None of the main treatments or their interactions had any significant impact on soil nitrate at the spring, pre- fertilization sample date (Table 10).

Charles headed out significantly earlier than Wintmalt. However, constrictions of harvesting equipment required simultaneous harvest. Charles therefore had a lower test weight, yield, and total germination due to delayed harvest, in addition to a higher rate of lodging/stem breakage than Wintmalt (Table 11). Charles would be expected to have lower lodging/stem breakage if grown and harvested in a single cultivar stand that permitted timely harvest. Malt quality analysis of protein, falling number, and DON levels were therefore only conducted for the Wintmalt plots. There were no significant impacts of cover crop or seeding rate on the tested quality indices (Table 11).

Table 10. Influence of cover crop species, barley cultivar, and barley seeding rate on soil nitrate level at frost and pre - fertilization time at the Agricultural Research Farm, South Deerfield, MA, 2015-2016

Cover Crop	Cultivar	Seeding rate (seeds/m²)	Soil Nitrate at frost (mg/L) (Oct 20, 2015)	Soil nitrate Pre-fertilization (mg/L) (Apr 14, 2016)
SH+CC	WM	300	2.2	8.5
		350	4.4	5.3
		400	2.4	4.2
	CH	300	2.9	4.3
		350	1.9	2.3
		400	3.0	4.0
CC	WM	300	2.9	6.5
		350	2.0	4.6
		400	1.6	2.1
	CH	300	2.2	4.2
		350	2.1	0.0
		400	1.8	2.6
SH	WM	300	4.3	3.8
		350	6.4	2.3
		400	3.3	3.9
	CH	300	2.9	3.3
		350	3.2	3.9
		400	4.1	4.4
None	WM	300	1.9	5.9
		350	1.6	1.1
		400	2.1	4.2
	CH	300	1.9	1.9
		350	1.8	5.5
		400	2.1	3.6
Cover Crop
SH+CC			2.8	4.8
CC			2.1	3.3
SH			4.0	3.6
None			1.9	3.7
Cultivar
WM			2.9	4.4
CH			2.5	3.3
Seeding Rate
300			2.7	4.8
350			2.9	3.1
400			2.6	3.6
Significance¹by main factors
Cover crop (CC)			*	ns
Cultivar (C)			ns	ns
Seeding rate (SR)			ns	ns
CCxC			ns	ns
CCxSR			ns	ns
CxSR			ns	ns
CxCCxSR			ns	ns

^{1 t} indicates P≤0.1, *indicates a significant relationship or difference (P≤0.05), **indicates a highly significant

relationship or difference (P≤0.01), ***(P≤0.001) indicates a very highly significant relationship or difference

Table 11 Influence of cover crop species, barley cultivar, and barley seeding rate on barley grain yield and its growth metric s at the Agricultural Research Farm, South Deerfield, MA. 2015-2016.

Cover		Seeding rate	50% heading	Mean height	Lodging/ stem	Yield	Test weight		Total	Percent protein	Falling	DON
crop	Cult.	(seeds/m^2)	date	(in)	breakage	(bu/ac)	(kg/hL)	TGW (g)	germ	(12%M)	number	(ppm)
SH+CC	WM	300	141.0	19.8	0.3	70.4	60.4	49.4	95.8	8.3	187.5	0.2
		350	140.5	21.4	0.5	86.2	59.9	49.6	98.3	8.3	194.8	0.2
		400	140.8	19.8	0.3	65.1	58.6	49.5	87.0	8.4	189.8	0.2
	Char.	300	134.8	19.1	2.5	46.2	57.9	42.1	68.3	…	…	…
		350	136.3	15.1	2.3	39.7	56.7	44.7	60.5	…	…	…
		400	134.8	17.4	3.3	45.3	58.6	42.0	67.0	…	…	…
CC	WM	300	143.0	20.1	0.4	63.1	60.8	50.7	97.8	8.5	199.0	0.2
		350	141.5	18.8	0.3	67.7	59.3	49.5	98.0	8.2	193.8	0.1
		400	142.5	19.5	0.4	76.1	57.9	50.3	97.0	8.7	192.3	0.2
	Char.	300	134.0	15.2	3.0	32.3	56.5	43.3	72.3	…	…	…
		350	132.3	15.4	2.0	45.1	57.9	42.8	70.0	…	…	…
		400	134.0	16.6	1.8	48.3	57.9	43.1	63.0	…	…	…
SH	WM	300	140.0	22.1	0.4	86.3	60.8	50.2	97.8	9.0	195.3	0.2
		350	141.0	21.8	0.1	72.4	59.7	49.7	99.3	8.0	203.5	0.2
		400	140.5	20.2	0.4	77.7	59.2	49.2	97.8	8.4	193.0	0.1
	Char.	300	135.5	17.0	2.5	40.4	56.6	42.6	65.5	…	…	…
		350	133.0	20.4	3.9	59.2	56.6	42.1	79.0	…	…	…
		400	134.8	18.8	3.3	43.8	56.9	42.0	65.0	…	…	…
None	WM	300	142.5	18.5	0.6	61.3	59.1	49.8	97.5	8.5	198.3	0.1
		350	139.0	21.0	0.4	58.1	61.1	48.7	98.0	8.6	194.5	0.2
		400	142.0	19.4	0.1	63.1	59.4	49.0	98.3	8.1	197.8	0.3
	Char.	300	136.5	15.0	2.8	37.2	54.0	43.3	63.3	…	…	…
		350	134.0	19.5	3.1	37.7	56.6	44.1	70.8	…	…	…
		400	137.5	15.2	2.8	37.9	55.6	41.8	61.3	…	…	…
Cover Crop SH+CC			138.1	18.8	1.5	58.8	58.7	46.2	79.5	8.4	190.7	0.2
CC			137.9	17.6	1.3	55.4	58.4	46.6	83.0	8.5	194.6	0.2
SH			137.3	20.1	1.8	63.3	58.3	45.9	84.0	8.5	197.3	0.2
None			138.6	18.1	1.6	49.2	57.6	46.1	81.5	8.4	196.8	0.2
Cultivar
WM			141.2	20.2	0.3	70.6	59.7	49.6	96.9	…	…	…
CH			134.8	17.1	2.8	42.8	56.8	42.8	67.1	…	…	…
Seeding Rate
300			138.4	18.4	1.5	54.7	58.3	46.4	82.3	8.6	194.7	0.1
350			137.2	19.2	1.6	58.3	58.5	46.4	84.2	8.3	196.6	0.1
400			138.3	18.3	1.5	57.2	58.0	45.8	79.5	8.4	193.2	0.2


	50%	Mean	Lodging/		Test			Percent
	heading	height	stem	Yield	weight		Total	protein	Falling	DON
Significance¹by main factors	date	(in)	breakage	(bu/ac)	(kg/hL)	TGW (g)	germ	(12%M)	number	(ppm)
Cover crop (CC)	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns
Cultivar (C)	**	t	***	*	*	ns	*	…	…	…
Seeding rate (SR)	*	ns	ns	ns	ns	t	ns	ns	ns	ns
CCxC	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	…	…	…
CCxSR	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns
CxSR	ns	ns	ns	ns	*	**	ns	…	…	…
CxCCxSR	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	ns	…	…	…

1 t indicates P≤0.1, *indicates a significant relationship or difference (P≤0.05), **indicates a highly significant relationship or difference (P≤0.01), ***(P≤0.001)bindicates a very highly significant relationship or difference.Fall soil nitrate varied significantly by cover crop treatment, but this variation did not carry through to pre-fertilization soil nitrate levels, nor did it have a significant impact on any of the barley metrics.

WINTER BARLEY PLANTING DATE BY NITROGEN RATE TRIAL

Alburgh, VT Trial Results 2015/2016

There were significant differences in winter survival between planting dates (Table 12). There were no significant differences in populations, test weight, DON levels, germination rate, crude protein, falling number, yield, or harvest moisture by planting date or nitrogen amendment. Across trial, there were low DON levels, slightly low test weight, and low harvest moisture. There was high falling number across the trial, with all treatments well above the 250 second industry minimum standard. Crude protein across the trial was within the industry standard of 9-12% for malting barley.

Impact of Planting Date:

There were significant differences between planting dates in winter survival (Table 12). The earliest planting dates had the highest winter survival. Winter survival did not have a significant effect on harvest yield, however. The two later planting dates had higher yields that the earliest date, although this was not significantly different.

Table 12. Impact of planting date on barley harvest and quality, Alburgh, VT, 2016.

Planting	Populations	Winter Survival	Harvest moisture	Test	Harvest
date	Populations	Winter Survival	Harvest moisture	weight	yield
	plants m^2-1	%	%	lbs bu^-1	lbs ac^-1
5-Sep	434	66*	13.7	39.5	1956
15-Sep	439	66*	14.0	39.7	2170
25-Sep	435	47	14.9	42.1	2093
p value	0.93	0.03	0.20	0.21	0.26
Trial mean	436	59	14.2	40.3	2072

Planting	Crude protein	DON	Falling	Germination
date	@ 12% moisture	DON	number	Germination
	%	ppm	seconds	%
5-Sep	11.46	0.10	316	95.6
15-Sep	11.61	0.11	316	94.2
25-Sep	11.64	0.15	340	94.1
p value	0.94	0.39	0.18	0.64
Trial mean	11.57	0.11	323	94.8

*Treatments with an asterisk are not significantly different than the top performer in bold.

NS – No significant difference amongst treatments.

Impact of Nitrogen Amendment:

Plots were fertilized on 7-Oct 2015 with either no nitrogen or 25 lbs ac^-1. Plots received either 0, 25, 50, 75 lbs ac^-1 on 10-May 2016. Nitrogen amendment had no significant effect across the trial (Table 13). Spring nitrogen did appear to have a beneficial effect on crude protein levels, with both of the treatments receiving 75 lbs ac^-1in the spring having greater than 12% crude protein content, although this difference was not statistically significant

Table 13. Impact of nitrogen amendment on barley harvest and quality, Alburgh, VT, 2016.

Fall-Spring	Populations	Winter Survival	Harvest moisture	Test	Harvest
nitrogen	Populations	Winter Survival	Harvest moisture	weight	yield
lbs ac^-1	plants m²	%	%	lbs bu^-1	lbs ac^-1
0-0	396	60	13.5	39.8	2239
0-25	453	61	15.0	40.6	2134
0-50	456	60	14.4	38.7	2196
0-75	446	62	14.8	41.8	2100
25-0	422	59	13.2	40.6	1834
25-25	436	61	14.2	40.7	1936
25-50	422	59	14.0	40.7	2184
25-75	457	54	14.2	40.0	1959
p value	0.68	0.99	0.78	0.96	0.99
Trial mean	436	59	14.2	40.3	2072

Fall-Spring	Crude protein	DON	Falling	Germination
nitrogen	@ 12% moisture		number	Germination
lbs ac^-1	%	ppm	seconds	%
0-0	10.85	0.06	314	93.9
0-25	10.92	0.11	320	92.7
0-50	11.54	0.08	330	95.6
0-75	12.39	0.23	329	98.7
25-0	10.95	0.08	312	95.9
25-25	11.57	0.04	327	96.2
25-50	12.08	0.17	320	91.5
25-75	12.10	0.13	328	92.9
p value	0.34	0.17	0.99	0.49
Trial mean	11.57	0.11	323	94.8

Top performing treatments are shown in bold.

Interactions between treatments:

There were no statistically significant interactions between treatments in this study.

Alburgh, VT Trial Results 2017/2018

Impact of Planting Date:

There were significant differences between planting dates for population, winter survival, height, harvest moisture, test weight, harvest yield, crude protein, DON, falling number and germination (Table 14). The last planting date performed the best in all categories except crude protein. It had both the highest fall populations and winter survival, likely contributing to the higher yield than the other planting dates. The third planting date was the only one that did not need to be dried down for storage (harvest moisture less than 14%) and also the only planting date with a test weight above the industry minimum of 48 lbs bu^-1. The first planting date had the highest crude protein of 10.5%. All three planting dates were within the desirable range of 9-11% for malting barley. Although the third planting date had the lowest DON concentration at 0.1 ppm, all planting dates were well below the FDA threshold for human consumption of 1 ppm. All planting dates had a falling number above 220. The third planting date was the only one with germination above 95%, which is desirable for malting barley.

Table 14. Impact of planting date on barley harvest and quality, Alburgh, VT, 2018.

Planting date	Populations	Winter survival	Height	Harvest moisture	Test weight	Harvest yield
Planting date	Populations	Winter survival	Height	Harvest moisture	Test weight	Harvest yield
	plants m^-2	%	cm	%	lbs bu^-1	lbs ac^-1
5-Sep	344^b	47.6^c	57.1^c	18.4^b	40.3^c	1208^c
15-Sep	361^b	59.6^b	64.1^b	17.7^b	44.5^b	2170^b
28-Sep	438^a	87.3^a	72.5^a	13.8^a	49.6^a	3851^a

LSD (0.10)	35.3	10.0	2.05	1.29	1.25	262
Trial mean	381	64.8	64.6	16.6	44.8	2410

Planting date	Crude protein	DON	Falling number	Germination
Planting date	@ 12% moisture	DON	Falling number	Germination
	%	ppm	seconds	%
5-Sep	10.5^a	0.29^c	276^c	85.2^c
15-Sep	10.1^a	0.18^b	326^b	91.6^b
28-Sep	9.2^b	0.10^a	356^a	97.6^a
LSD (0.10)	0.52	0.05	12.5	2.55
Trial mean	9.9	0.19	319	91.4

Top performer treatments are shown in bold.

Within a column, planting dates with the same letter performed statistically similar.

Impact of Nitrogen Amendment:

Plots were fertilized on 3-Oct 2017 with either no N or 25 lbs N ac^-1. Additional N was added on 10-May 2018 at either 0, 25, 50, or 75 lbs ac^-1. There were significant differences between nitrogen treatments in population, harvest moisture, test weight, yield, protein, DON, falling number and germination (Table 15). The highest population was observed in the 25-25 treatment. The average population for the plots receiving N in the fall was 382, just over the trial average, while the average population for the plots that did not receive N in the fall was 379, just under the trial average. Winter survival ranged from 71.3% (0-25 nitrogen treatment) to 57.3% (25-75 N treatment). There was no discernable effect of fall fertilization on winter survival. When averaged by N treatment, all treatments were above 14% moisture and below the desired test weight of 48 lbs bu^-1. The 0-75 treatment had the lowest moisture at 15% and the highest test weight at 46.2 lbs bu^-1. The 0-75 treatment also had the highest yield at 2774 lbs ac^-1. This was statistically similar to the 0-50, 25-0, and 25-75 yields, which were all above 2500 lbs bu^-1. The two highest yielding treatments that were amended with 75 lbs N ac^-1 in the spring were in the highest yielding, implying that spring nitrogen application may have been more beneficial than fall application for increasing yield.

Table 15. Impact of nitrogen amendment on barley harvest and quality, Alburgh, VT, 2018.

Fall-Spring	Populations	Winter Survival	Height	Harvest moisture	Test	Harvest
nitrogen	Populations	Winter Survival	Height	Harvest moisture	weight	yield
lbs ac^-1	plants m^-2	%	cm	%	lbs bu^-1	lbs ac^-1
0-0	374^ab	69.7	60.9^c	16.6^ab	44.7^ab	1988^c
0-25	375^ab	71.3	61.9^bc	15.3^a	46.0^a	2286^bc
0-50	401^a	61.3	66.4^a	16.4^ab	44.8^ab	2521^ab
0-75	365^ab	63.3	64.9^ab	15.0^a	46.2^a	2774^a
25-0	339^b	67.0	65.1^ab	17.7^bc	43.8^b	2547^ab
25-25	421^a	65.0	64.7^ab	17.1^ab	44.8^ab	2258^bc
25-50	406^a	63.7	65.8^a	15.6^ab	44.3^ab	2281^bc
25-75	366^ab	57.3	66.7^a	19.3^c	43.5^b	2622^ab
LSD (0.10)	57.6	NS	3.35	2.1	2.04	429
Trial mean	381	64.8	64.6	16.6	44.8	2410

Fall-Spring	Crude protein	DON	Falling	Germination
nitrogen	@ 12% moisture		number	Germination
lbs ac^-1	%	ppm	seconds	%
0-0	9.1^c	0.18^ab	296^c	88.8^b
0-25	9.8^bc	0.13^a	337^a	91.5^ab
0-50	10.2^b	0.18^ab	332^a	92.1^ab
0-75	9.6^b	0.19^ab	333^a	94.1^a
25-0	9.7^bc	0.17^ab	318^ab	92.3^ab
25-25	9.7^bc	0.23^b	311^bc	92.9^a
25-50	10.1^b	0.23^b	320^ab	91.4^ab
25-75	11.5^a	0.23^b	308^bc	88.3^b
LSD (0.10)	0.85	0.07	20.5	4.16
Trial mean	9.95	0.19	319	91.4

Top performer treatments are shown in bold.

Within a column, planting dates with the same letter performed statistically similar.

NS indicates no significant differences between treatments.

The highest crude protein was in the 25-75 treatment, the treatment that received the most total N. This treatment produced grain slightly above the desirable range for malting barley of 9-11%. Protein for all other treatments was in the desirable range. This indicates that 75 lbs of N ac^-1 applied in the spring with a modest addition of fall applied N can increase yield and protein concentrations. The lowest DON concentrations were in the 0-25 nitrogen treatment, which had DON levels of 0.13 ppm. All treatments had DON below the 1 ppm FDA standard. The highest falling number was 337 seconds (0-25 treatment). Falling number for all treatments was above 220. The germination for all N treatments averaged below the industry standard of 95% for malting barley. The 0-75 nitrogen treatment had the highest germination at 94.1%

Interactions between treatments:

There was a significant interaction between planting date and nitrogen amendment for yield (p=0.0488) (Figure 4). This indicates that planting dates responded differently to nitrogen treatments. The third planting date had the highest yield, and barley in this planting date had an increased yield with fall nitrogen amendment of 25 lbs ac^-1 compared to the plots in this planting date that were not fertilized in the fall. The two treatments that had a spring nitrogen application of 75 lbs ac^-1 were also high yielding. There was no discernable effect of nitrogen application within the first or second planting dates.

Deerfield, MA Trial Results 2014/2015

Neither date of planting (DOP) nor fall nitrogen (N) treatments had any significant impact on winter survival or on heading date as individual treatments in 2014-2015. However, there was a significant interaction between DOP and fall N on heading date. In plots that received fall N, earlier planting dates had later heading dates. While statistically significant, all treatments were heading within 24-36 hrs of one another. The importance of this relationship is minimal, as is its strength.

Foliar disease, primarily powdery mildew (Erysiphe graminis f. sp. hordei), had a highly significant response to date of plating in 2014-2015. Earlier dates of planting, which had stronger and denser stand establishment in the spring, also had higher rates of foliar disease. This is to be expected, as with increased stand density, air flow is reduced, and the duration of wetting periods increased. E. graminis, among the earliest recognized cereal pathogens, can cause significant damage to cereal crops, primarily through reduction in photosynthesis. Reduction in photosynthetic capacity via any mechanism can reduce tillering, heading and root development decreasing yield, kernel weight and protein. Agronomic costs due to E. graminis are greatest in early infections. These consequences of infection were not directly observed in this trial,

possibly due to a relatively late infection development. This increase in foliar disease did not appear to have a significant impact on grain yields or quality. While higher rates of Spring N and earlier dates of planting had numerically higher yields than lower rates of spring N and later dates of planting, none of the treatments had a significant impact on yield (Table 16).

Table 16. Yield and Growth metrics for the Date of Planting and Nitrogen Trial for the University of Massachusetts Agricultural Research Farm, South Deerfield, MA. 2014-2015.

	Fall N	Spring N	Winter Survival	50% Heading	Foliar disease	Yield
DOP	(lbs/ac)	(lbs/ac)	(0-10)	Date	(%)	(bu /ac)
Sept. 5	25	25	8.3	145.5	22.6	72.5
		45	8.3	146.5	18.3	69.7
		65	8.6	145.5	24.8	67.0
	0	25	8.5	145.8	25.8	62.7
		45	8.9	147.0	21.4	72.7
		65	8.8	145.8	29.2	59.3
Sept. 15	25	25	8.9	145.3	20.3	63.8
		45	8.8	145.8	17.0	67.2
		65	9.4	144.5	19.2	72.2
	0	25	8.9	144.3	14.9	54.4
		45	9.3	143.8	19.8	64.9
		65	8.9	144.3	18.3	85.9
Sept. 25	25	25	8.3	144.8	10.7	56.2
		45	8.5	145.5	8.5	50.0
		65	8.8	144.3	14.2	65.9
	0	25	7.5	147.5	9.6	48.4
		45	8.3	145.8	10.6	57.5
		65	8.5	146.8	8.1	44.1
DOP
Sept. 5			8.6	146.0	23.7	67.3
Sept. 15			9.0	144.6	18.3	68.1
Sept. 25			8.3	145.8	10.3	53.7
Fall N (lbs/ac)
25			8.6	145.6	17.5	61.1
0			8.7	145.3	17.3	65.0
Spring N (lbs/ac)
25			8.4	145.5	17.3	59.7
45			8.7	145.7	15.9	63.7
65			8.8	145.2	19.0	65.7
Significance¹by main factors
DOP			NS	t	**	NS
Fall N			NS	NS	NS	NS
Spring N			NS	NS	NS	NS
DOPxFall N			NS	*	NS	NS
DOPxSpring N			NS	NS	NS	NS
Fall NxSpring N			NS	NS	NS	NS

¹ t indicates P≤0.1, *indicates a significant relationship or difference (P≤0.05), **indicates a highly significant

relationship or difference (P≤0.01), ***(P≤0.001) indicates a very highly significant relationship or difference

Table 17. Yield and Growth metrics for the Date of Planting and Nitrogen Trial for the University of Massachusetts

Agricultural Research Farm, South Deerfield, MA. 2014-2015.

DOP	Fall N (lbs/ac)	Spring N (lbs/ac)	Agronomic NUE (g grain/g N)	Test Weight (kg/hL)	Germination (%)	Protein (%)	Falling number (sec.)	DON (ppm)
Sept. 5	25	25	56.5	56.5	85.8	8.7	117.0	0.18
		45	49.4	61.6	86.8	9.2	108.8	0.08
		65	41.9	62.7	90.0	9.6	109.5	0.15
	0	25	52.9	61.0	87.8	8.5	113.8	0.18
		45	45.8	59.6	86.5	9.0	105.5	0.63
		65	41.3	59.2	86.5	9.6	105.5	0.25
Sept. 15	25	25	57.4	61.9	81.5	8.7	104.0	0.2
		45	52.7	61.3	81.8	8.5	89.0	0.4
		65	43.7	60.7	82.3	9.1	91.5	0.4
	0	25	51.0	61.7	83.5	8.1	94.5	0.55
		45	49.6	59.3	81.5	8.7	101.3	0.55
		65	50.0	61.3	83.3	8.9	79.0	0.55
Sept. 25	25	25	61.9	60.5	85.5	8.4	100.3	0.45
		45	55.3	59.8	82.8	8.9	105.8	0.43
		65	45.8	59.4	85.8	9.6	103.3	0.58
	0	25	46.5	61.2	90.8	8.6	126.0	0.48
		45	49.4	60.9	84.3	8.9	114.8	0.6
		65	45.3	61.6	85.8	9.2	114.0	0.59
DOP
Sept. 5			48.0	60.1	87.2	9.1	110.0	0.2
Sept. 15			50.7	61.0	82.3	8.7	93.2	0.4
Sept. 25			50.7	60.6	85.8	8.9	110.7	0.5
Fall N (lbs/ac)
25			48.0	60.6	85.5	8.8	106.0	0.5
0			51.6	60.5	84.7	9.0	103.2	0.3
Spring N (lbs/ac)
25			54.4	60.5	85.8	8.5	109.3	0.3
45			50.4	60.4	83.9	8.9	104.2	0.4
65			44.7	60.8	85.6	9.3	100.5	0.4
Significance1 by main factors
DOP			NS	NS	t	**	**	**
Fall N			*	NS	NS	NS	NS	t
Spring N			*	NS	NS	**	NS	NS
DOPxFall N			NS	NS	NS	NS	*	NS
DOPxSpring N			NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS
Fall NxSpring N			NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS

¹ t indicates P≤0.1, *indicates a significant relationship or difference (P≤0.05), **indicates a highly significant relationship or difference (P≤0.01), ***(P≤0.001) indicates a very highly significant relationship or difference

Quality Indices: All levels of grain protein were within the acceptable malting range (below 13-13.5%). Indeed, Spring N levels could be increased significantly to increase yields without risking excessive protein in the grain for malting. Levels of grain protein increased significantly as spring N levels increased (8.3, 8.6, and 9.1%, respectively). Additionally, there was a significant, though weak, relationship between DOP and grain protein. However, this relationship was polynomial and likely an artifact of the data. Falling numbers throughout this trial were well lower than would be acceptable for malt barley. This is assumed to be due to pre- harvest germination due to a delay in harvest. There was a significant polynomial relationship between falling number and DOP. There was also a significant interaction between Fall N and DOP in falling number. This polynomial relationship exists only when no nitrogen was applied in the fall and is believed to be an artifact of the data. DON increased by a small but statistically significant amount with later planting dates in 2014-2015, with the latest DOP having an average DON level above the ideal >0.5 ppm. Unlike heading date, there was no significant interaction effect of any treatments in determining DON levels (Table 17). Agronomic NUE, (g grain yield/g N applied), was significantly lower in plots that received fall N in comparison to plots that did not. NUE also decreased significantly with increasing spring N applications.

Deerfield, MA 2015/2016 Trial Results

Earlier dates of planting had significantly lower rates of winter survival. Numerically lower yields were associated with lower winter survival in the second year of the trial. There were no meaningful impacts of any of the treatments on either height or heading date. Lodging/stem breakage was significantly impacted by spring N applications, with treatments receiving no spring N having less lodging/stem breakage due to reduced growth and stem elongation (Table 18). Yield was significantly impacted by applications of Spring N, increasing with increased applications. Agronomic Nitrogen Use efficiency decreased significantly with increasing spring N applications. Thousand grain weight and test weight were not significantly impacted by any of the main factors tested in this trial. Falling number was higher in the later planting dates. While DON did increase with the later planting dates, all dates were below 0.5ppm (Table 19).

Table 18. Yield and Growth metrics for the Date of Planting and Nitrogen Trial for the University of Massachusetts Agricultural Research Farm, South Deerfield, MA. 2015-2016.

DOP	Fall N (lbs/ac)	Spring N (lbs/ac)	Fall biomass (lb/ac)	Winter Survival (0-10)	Plant Height (in)	50% Heading Date	Lodging/Ste m breakage (0-10)
Sept. 5	25	25	3705	7.3	24.8	140.5	2.4
		45	4736	6.7	19.4	140.3	4.3
		65	4322	7.5	25.3	140.3	5.4
	0	25	2698	8.3	16.9	141.7	1.7
		45	2828	8.6	24.2	141.0	3.5
		65	3213	8.4	24.9	141.3	3.8
		0	4786	8.5	14.9	141.7	2.0
Sept. 15	25	25	2862	9.4	23.5	141.3	3.0
		45	3732	9.5	25.5	141.0	2.0
		65	2135	9.1	25.6	141.0	2.9
	0	25	3218	9.0	24.0	141.0	1.6
		45	3478	9.1	23.6	140.5	1.8
		65	2970	9.3	23.9	141.3	1.9
		0	2248	9.1	20.0	141.8	0.1
Sept. 15	25	25	1489	9.8	24.6	139.5	0.4
		45	2507	9.9	25.6	139.8	1.5
		65	1779	9.6	24.6	140.0	0.9
	0	25	1954	9.5	23.5	140.3	0.3
		45	1737	9.3	24.3	140.3	0.8
		65	1799	9.5	24.6	140.0	1.0
		0	2109	9.6	22.9	140.3	0
DOP
Sept. 5			3755	7.9	21.5	141.0	3.3
Sept. 15			2949	9.2	23.7	141.1	1.9
Sept. 25			1911	9.6	24.3	140.0	0.7
Fall N (lbs/ac)
25			2753	9.0	22.3	140.9	1.5
0			3030	8.7	24.3	140.4	2.5
Spring N (lbs/ac)
25			2654	8.9	22.9	140.7	1.5
45			3169	8.8	23.8	140.5	2.3
65			2703	8.9	24.8	140.6	2.6
0			3048	9.1	19.2	141.2	0.7
Significance¹by main factors
DOP			***	*	NS	NS	t
Fall N			NS	NS	NS	NS	NS
Spring N			NS	NS	NS	NS	*
DOPxFall N			NS	NS	NS	NS	NS
DOPxSpring N			NS	NS	NS	NS	NS
Fall NxSpring N			NS	NS	NS	NS	NS

¹ t indicates P≤0.1, *indicates a significant relationship or difference (P≤0.05), **indicates a highly significant

relationship or difference (P≤0.01), ***(P≤0.001) indicates a very highly significant relationship or difference

Table 19. Yield and Growth metrics for the Date of Planting and Nitrogen Trial for the University of Massachusetts Agricultural Research Farm, South Deerfield, MA. 2015-2016.

DOP	Fall N (lbs/ac)	Spring N (lbs/ac)	Yield (bu/ac)	Agrono mic NUE (g grain/g N)	Test Weight (kg/hL)	TGW (g)	Germin ation (%)2	Protein (%)	Falling number (sec.)	DON (ppm)
Sept. 5	25	25	70.6	67.8	59.2	44.1	92.7	9.3	104.8	0.3
		45	78.8	40.5	45.0	33.6	94.7	9.6	89.0	0.2
		65	74.1	39.5	58.0	42.8	86.3	10.1	80.3	0.3
	0	25	65.2	93.9	44.4	33.5	96.0	8.7	135.7	0.3
		45	74.0	78.9	58.6	43.4	92.7	9.5	82.5	0.3
		65	83.9	62.0	59.2	43.6	89.7	9.8	71.3	0.3
		0	58.2	---	43.9	33.5	97.5	8.9	160.3	0.2
Sept. 15	25	25	69.2	66.4	58.9	46.5	88.0	8.8	152.8	0.2
		45	92.7	63.5	63.6	34.9	97.0	8.9	142.8	0.4
		65	83.0	44.3	96.7	46.8	95.7	9.0	139.5	0.2
	0	25	84.2	161.7	59.0	46.2	96.7	9.2	149.0	0.1
		45	79.4	84.7	60.6	45.5	96.7	9.0	143.3	0.2
		65	78.3	57.8	59.2	46.0	97.3	9.5	140.8	0.2
		0	51.3	---	58.3	45.6	98.0	9.1	190.8	0.3
Sept. 15	25	25	83.1	79.8	59.9	46.9	97.0	9.4	172.3	0.4
		45	88.6	60.8	60.7	46.1	101.3	9.3	127.0	0.4
		65	87.3	46.6	59.4	46.3	94.7	10.2	118.5	0.2
	0	25	77.1	148.1	59.7	46.8	96.0	9.2	156.3	0.3
		45	79.1	84.4	60.9	46.3	96.7	9.7	134.5	0.1
		65	77.9	57.5	61.0	47.2	95.7	10.0	157.5	0.6
		0	63.7	---	59.4	47.4	96.3	9.4	168.5	0.2
DOP
Sept. 5			72.1	63.8	52.6	39.2	92.8	9.4	103.4	0.3
Sept. 15			76.9	79.7	65.2	44.5	95.6	9.1	151.3	0.2
Sept. 25			79.5	79.5	60.2	46.7	96.8	9.6	147.8	0.3
Fall N (lbs/ac)
25			72.7	92.1	57.0	43.7	95.8	9.4	140.9	0.2
0			80.8	56.6	62.4	43.1	94.1	9.4	125.2	0.3
Spring N (lbs/ac)
25			74.9	102.9	56.8	44.0	94.4	9.1	145.1	0.2
45			82.1	68.8	58.2	41.6	96.5	9.3	119.8	0.3
65			80.8	51.3	65.6	45.4	93.2	9.8	118.0	0.3
0			57.7	---	53.9	42.2	97.3	9.2	173.2	0.2
Significance¹by main factors
DOP			NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	*	*
Fall N			t	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS
Spring N			*	***	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS
DOPxFall N			NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS
DOPxSpring N			NS	t	NS	NS	t	NS	NS	NS
Fall NxSpring N			NS	*	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS

¹ t indicates P≤0.1, *indicates a significant relationship or difference (P≤0.05), **indicates a highly significant

relationship or difference (P≤0.01), ***(P≤0.001) indicates a very highly significant relationship or difference

² Three replicates reported for highly abnormal germination rates in one of the 4 replicates.

WINTER BARLEY VARIETY TRIAL

Alburgh, VT Trial Results 2015/2016

Seasonal precipitation and temperature recorded at a weather station in Alburgh, VT are shown in Table 1. Temperatures were average or above for most of the growing season, with the exception of a colder than normal October and April. The 2015-2016 growing season could be characterized as being drier than normal with 3.5 inches of precipitation less than normal. All of the winter months were warmer than the 30-year average, overall temperatures were very mild. However, in February the temperature dropped below zero for several days, and at the time, there was little to no protective snow cover at the trial location in Alburgh, VT. The winter survival of the malting barley plots were assessed on April 21, 2016. There was severe winterkill in all of the plots and therefore, the trial was terminated.

Table 20. Varietal information for the 24 winter malting barley varieties, 2016.

Winter barley variety	Type	Seed source
10.0777	2-row	Oregon State University
10.086	2-row	Oregon State University
04ARS640-1	2-row	USDA
05ARS561-208	2-row	USDA
06ARS633-10	2-row	USDA
10/069/1	6-row	Kilian Hundsrucker
6W11-0064	6-row	Busch Agricultural Resources, LLC
6W13-7041	6-row	Busch Agricultural Resources, LLC
6W13-7145	6-row	Busch Agricultural Resources, LLC
Charles	2-row	Oregon State University
DH130004	2-row	Oregon State University
DH130718	2-row	Oregon State University
Endeavor	2-row	Oregon State University
Hirondella (08/258/17)	6-row	Kilian Hundsrucker
McGregor	6-row	Oregon State University
MW11S4024-004	6-row	University of Minnesota
MW11S4029-002	6-row	University of Minnesota
MW12_4007-008	6-row	University of Minnesota
MW12_4042-002	6-row	University of Minnesota
Puffin	2-row	Limagrain Cereal Seeds
Strider	6-row	Oregon State University
SU-Mateo	2-row	Kilian Hundsrucker
Thoroughbred	6-row	Virginia Tech
Vincenta	2-row	Kilian Hundsrucker

Alburgh, VT Trial Results 2016/2017

Seasonal precipitation and temperature recorded at a weather station in Alburgh, VT are shown in Table 2. Average precipitation and above average temperatures for the fall of 2016 lead to good establishment. Most of the winter months, except for March, were warmer and drier than the 30-year average. Overall, temperatures were very mild however, the lack of precipitation during the winter months resulted in no protective snow cover at the trial location in Alburgh. Based on weather data from a Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2 with WeatherLink data logger. Historical averages are for 30 years of NOAA data (1981-2010) from Burlington, VT. Many of the varieties in the trial were developed in environments much different from New England. Hence, it is important to evaluate the varieties for tolerance to our climate. The winter survival of the malting barley plots were assessed on 11-May 2017 (Table 21). There was severe winterkill in most of the plots and therefore, the trial was terminated.

Table 21. Populations, vigor, and winter survival of the 30 winter barley varieties.

Variety	Population	Vigor	Survival
	m²	Scale (0-9)	%
05ARS561-208	10	1.33	10.7
06ARS617-25	0	0.00	0.00
06ARS633-3	2	0.00	1.00
07ARS515-7	2	0.67	2.00
2WI14-7462	10	0.33	1.67
2WI14-7465	0	0.00	0.00
2WI14-7577	0	0.00	0.00
2WI14-7581	2	0.00	0.33
AC09/327/2 (Lyberac)	7	2.00	15.0
Calypso	31	2.00	18.3
Charles	0	0.67	5.33
DH130004	0	0.00	0.00
DH130718	2	0.00	0.00
DH130910	7	3.33	13.3
DH130939	5	0.67	3.67
Endeavor	2	0.33	1.67
Flavia	88*	5.67	50.0
Hirondella	26	1.00	14.0
LGBB13-W102	77	7.67*	58.3
McGregor	26	5.67	41.7
Mission	22	1.00	10.3
MW12_4007-001	127*	4.00	83.3*
MW12_4028-007	5	3.00	7.33
MW13_4107-010	12	3.33	20.0
MW13_4159-012	31	4.33	36.7
Puffin	10	0.33	4.33
SU-Mateo	36	5.33	33.3
Thoroughbred	103*	8.00*	66.7
Violetta	74	7.00*	58.3
Wintmalt	22	5.00	31.7
LSD (0.10)	43	2.22	16.4
Trial Mean	25	2.42	19.6

Values shown in bold are of the highest value or top performing.

* Barley varieties that are not significantly different than the top performing variety in a column are indicated with an asterisk.

Alburgh, VT Trial Results 2017/2018

The fall of 2017 was warmer than the 30-year average. In 2018, April was colder than the average year but May and July where both 3 degrees above the normal temperature. There were 5.22 inches less precipitation than the average year and hence, 2018 was considered an extremely dry growing season. Over the course of the 2017-2018 growing season, there was 5452 Growing Degree Days (GDDs) which was 554 GDDs above the 30-year average. Seasonal precipitation and temperature recorded at weather station in Alburgh, VT to the 2017-2018 site are shown in Table 22.

Table 22. Seasonal weather data collected in Alburgh, VT, 2017 and 2018.

Alburgh, VT	Sep-17	Oct-17	Nov-17	Mar-18	Apr-18	May-18	Jun-18	Jul-18
Average Temperature (°F)	64.4	57.4	35.2	30.4	39.2	59.5	64.4	74.1
Departure from normal	3.76	9.16	-2.96	-0.66	-5.58	3.10	-1.38	3.51

Precipitation (inches)	1.8	3.3	2.3	1.5	4.4	1.9	3.7	2.4
Departure from normal	-1.80	-0.31	-0.84	-0.70	1.61	-1.51	0.05	-1.72

Growing Degree Days (base 32°F)	971	786	202	90	272	853	973	1305
Departure from normal	113	284	17	90	-112	97	-42	107

Based on weather data from a Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2 with WeatherLink data logger. Historical averages are for 30 years of NOAA data (1981-2010) from Burlington, VT.

Most varieties bloomed (50% or more of the total plot) by the last week of May. The latest flowering varieties was 05ARS561-208, which flowered 4-Jun. (Table 23). There were significant differences among varieties for plant height, lodging, and bird damage. The tallest variety was MW134122-012 (78.9 cm) and eight other varieties were significantly similar. These varieties included Su Mateo (76.6 cm), DH130910 (75.4 cm), Thoroughbred (74.9 cm), MW124007-001 (74.4 cm), McGregor (73.3 cm), Endeavor (73.4 cm), Hirondella (72.0 cm), and AC09/327/3 (Lyberac) (71.8 cm). MW124028-007 was the shortest variety at 60.8 cm tall. Only two varieties had any signs of lodging, MW124028-007 that was a 4 on a scale of 0-5. The only other variety with any signs of lodging is MW124007-001 but as only a 2 on the 0-5 scale. There were six varieties that did not have any bird damage; MW124007-001, Thoroughbred, McGregor, MW124028-007, Hirondella, and AC11/341/28. The variety with the highest bird damage was 07ARS518-13 with an average 48.3% damage.

Table 23. 2018 spring barley agronomic characteristics in Alburgh, VT.

Variety	Flowering date	Plant height	Lodging	Bird damage
	date	cm	rating 0-5‡	%
2W15-8674	29-May	65.7	0	13.3*
2W15-8688	30-May	70.8	0	33.3
2W15-8775	29-May	68.4	0	18.0*
AC09/327/3 (Lyberac)	30-May	71.8*	0	14.0*
AC11/367/2	29-May	71.3	0	18.0*
AC11/341/28	29-May	65.6	0	0.00*
07ARS518-13	1-Jun	66.2	0	48.3
05ARS561-208	4-Jun	63.2	0	28.3
06ARS617-25	30-May	68.0	0	11.7*
07ARS515-7	27-May	69.7	0	5.70*
Charles	29-May	62.6	0	15.0*
DH120304	29-May	66.4	0	13.3*
DH130910	29-May	75.4*	0	28.3
DH130939	27-May	67.2	0	3.30*
DH140088	26-May	70.1	0	1.70*
Endeavor	29-May	72.4*	0	28.3
Flavia	27-May	65.3	0	9.00*
Hirondella	27-May	72.0*	0	0.00*
LGGB13-W102	29-May	68.9	0	1.30*
McGregor	29-May	73.3*	0	0.00*
MW124007-001	27-May	74.4*	2	0.00*
MW124028-007	29-May	60.8	4*	0.00*
MW134159-012	27-May	68.2	0	0.70*
MW134122-012	30-May	78.9*	0	1.30*
Su Mateo	30-May	76.6*	0	35.0
Thoroughbred	26-May	74.9*	0	0.00*
Wintmalt	28-May	67.8	0	5.70*
LSD (0.10)	N/A	7.54	0.53	22.2
Trial Mean	N/A	69.5	0.20	12.4

*Varieties with an asterisk are not significantly different from the top performer in bold.

‡Lodging was rated on a 0 to 5 scale, where 0 indicated no lodging and 5 indicated 100% lodging with no ability to harvest.

N/A - no statistical analysis performed for this variable.

Winter Barley Yield and Quality:

Varieties differed significantly in harvest moisture, test weight, and yield (Table 24). The variety AC11/341/28 (11.6% moisture) had the lowest harvest moisture and 07ARS518-13 (20.9% moisture) had the highest moisture. The ideal harvest and storage moisture is 14% or below, only eleven of the twenty-seven had a moisture of 14% or below. The variety with the highest test weight was DH130939 (51.6 lbs/bu). The desired barley test weight is 48 lbs per bushel. There are eight other varieties with the desired test weight including: AC09/327/3 (Lyberac) (50.0 lbs/bu), 07ARS515-7 (49.6 lbs/bu), DH130910 (50.1 lbs/bu), Endeavor (48.4 lbs/bu), Flavia (50.7 lbs/bu), LGGB13-W102 (48.5 lbs/bu), Su Mateo (48.0 lbs/bu), and Thoroughbred (49.6 lbs/bu). The highest yielding variety was Hirondella (3887 lbs/ac) and the lowest yielding variety was 07ARS518-13 (904 lbs/ac). Other high yielding varieties included AC11/341/28 (3769 lbs/ac), 07ARS515-7 (3290 lbs/ac), LGGB13-W102 (3876 lbs/ac), McGregor (3548 lbs/ac), and MW134122-012 (3782 lbs/ac).

Table 24. 2018 spring barley agronomic characteristics in Alburgh, VT.

Variety	Harvest moisture	Test weight	Yield @ 13.5% moisture
	%	lbs/bu	lbs/acre
2W15-8674	14.5*	42.0	1908
2W15-8688	15.7	43.3	2053
2W15-8775	15.3*	47.2	2370
AC09/327/3 (Lyberac)	14.5*	50.0*	2799
AC11/367/2	14.7*	46.5	2457
AC11/341/28	11.6*	41.7	3769*
07ARS518-13	20.9	39.8	904
05ARS561-208	18.1	40.6	1551
06ARS617-25	18.9	44.6	1531
07ARS515-7	13.6*	49.6*	3290*
Charles	14.9*	42.0	1928
DH120304	15.0*	47.2	1454
DH130910	14.6*	50.1*	2459
DH130939	14.6*	51.6*	1986
DH140088	15.4*	46.1	2019
Endeavor	19.9	48.4*	1915
Flavia	13.4*	50.7*	2837
Hirondella	12.3*	46.7	3887*
LGGB13-W102	12.4*	48.5*	3876*
McGregor	11.6*	42.6	3548*
MW124007-001	12.9*	45.6	2257
MW124028-007	12.1*	44.9	2154
MW134159-012	12.5*	47.6	2266
MW134122-012	13.0*	45.0	3782*
Su Mateo	14.7*	48.0*	2738
Thoroughbred	12.4*	49.6*	3053
Wintmalt	15.8	47.4	2302
LSD (0.10)	3.91	4.05	778
Trial Mean	14.6	41.2	2485

*Varieties with an asterisk are not significantly different from the top performer in bold.

( - ) no statistical analysis performed for this variable.

There were significant differences among crude protein, falling number, germination energy grain plumpness and thins (Table 25). The industry standard for germination energy is 95% and all but two of the varieties meet this standard. DH130910 (93%) and 05ARS561-208 (85%) were both below the desired 95%. The variety with the plumpest kernel size was LGGB13-W102 (98.5%) and the smallest kernel size was 05ARS561-208 (83.9%) but all varieties are above the industry standard of 80% for 6-row and 70% for 2-row. The variety 05ARS561-208 had the highest falling number of 477 seconds and the variety MW124028-007 (435 seconds) was statistically similar. The variety with the lowest falling number was DH130939 (284 seconds). The variety DH130939 had the highest crude protein at 10.8%. Other varieties that have high crude proteins were 06ARS617-25 (10.7%), 2W15-8688 (9.59%), 07ARS518-13 (9.57%), 05ARS561-208 (9.55%), Charles (9.92%), DH120304 (10.2%), DH130910 (10.2%), and DH140088 (10.1%). The DON analysis was conducted on one of the three replications and since all samples fell below the 1 ppm standard, no other analysis was conducted.

Table 25. 2018 spring barley agronomic characteristics in Alburgh, VT.

Variety	Crude Protein	Falling number	Germination energy	Plumpness	Thins
	%	sec	%	%	%
2W15-8674	9.32	360	99*	91.2	8.02
2W15-8688	9.59*	350	100*	89.7	9.38
2W15-8775	8.16	397	99*	94.2*	5.37*
AC09/327/3 (Lyberac)	9.33	396	99*	98.2*	1.73*
AC11/367/2	9.19	357	95*	97.5*	2.26*
AC11/341/28	7.57	361	95*	98.2*	1.68*
07ARS518-13	9.57*	304	99*	87.1	10.9
05ARS561-208	9.55*	477*	85	83.9	14.0
06ARS617-25	10.7*	399	98*	87.1	11.4
07ARS515-7	8.38	357	100*	89.4	9.19
Charles	9.92*	403	99*	92.2	7.18
DH120304	10.2*	353	97*	98.0*	1.82*
DH130910	10.2*	335	93*	97.6*	2.38*
DH130939	10.8*	284	99*	97.9*	1.91*
DH140088	10.1*	364	99*	97.1*	2.69*
Endeavor	9.14	372	97*	87.8	10.5
Flavia	8.69	356	96*	98.1*	1.84*
Hirondella	8.13	356	99*	97.2*	2.67*
LGGB13-W102	8.13	411	100*	98.5*	1.39*
McGregor	8.14	382	99*	95.6*	4.20*
MW124007-001	8.98	403	99*	94.9*	4.77*
MW124028-007	8.67	435*	100*	90.2	9.39
MW134159-012	8.08	375	99*	95.7*	4.17*
MW134122-012	8.60	379	100*	94.5*	5.36*
Su Mateo	8.19	347	98*	97.4*	2.45*
Thoroughbred	8.96	337	99*	97.5*	2.38*
Wintmalt	8.66	369	98*	97.8*	2.03*
LSD (0.10)	1.29	53	7.18	5.48	4.56
Trial Mean	9.07	371	97.8	94.2	5.23

*Varieties with an asterisk are not significantly different from the top performer in bold.

The 2017-2018 winter barley growing season was a success compared to previous years. In 2017, malting winter barley trial suffered from severe winterkill and was terminated. The warmer temperatures in the fall of 2017 might have allowed the barley to become better established and survive the winter. The average yield for the trial was 2485 lb ac^-1. Test weight and grain plumpness, is an indicator of malting quality. All of the varieties had above industry standards of grain plumpness but only nine varieties had a test weight of 48 lbs/bu or above. A low test weight could indicate low malting quality and likely a result of the dry and hot conditions the grain experienced during the 2018 growing season.

The malting industry has standards for crude protein. Barley with low to moderate crude protein tend to be a higher quality malting barley. Generally, high quality 6-row malting barley should be 9-12% protein and high quality 2-row malting barley should be 9-11% protein. High protein barley can cause a beer to become hazy. Higher protein levels are also often associated with lower starch content. Starch is the principal contributor to brew house extract, and higher levels of starch result in more beer produced from a given amount of malt, although some small-scale breweries are minimally concerned with brew house extract efficiency. In 2018, the average protein concentration was 9.07%. There were no varieties that exceeded the ideal protein range, however there were many below the ideal protein range. Generally, it is difficult to obtain higher levels of protein in winter grains. High germination energy levels are also an indicator of good malting quality. Preferably, the germination energy should be over 95%. Falling number is not at standard for malting barley, but studies have shown that a variety with a falling number of 220 seconds or greater has a higher malting quality. All of the varieties tested had a falling number above 220 seconds. The dry growing season likely resulted in far less starch degradation than normal years, resulting in barley with high falling numbers and germination capacity.

2018 Winter Barley Planting Date by Nitrogen Trial - Vermont
2016_Organic_Winter Barley Variety Trial Report - Vermont
2016_Winter_Barley_Planting Date by Nitrogen Rate Report - Vermont
2016_Winter_Barley_Seeding Rate by Cover Crop by Variety Report - Vermont
2017_Winter_Barley_Seeding Rate by Cover Crop by Variety_Report - Vermont
Winter Barley Seeding Rate by Cover Crop by Variety - MA
2017_Organic_Winter Barley Variety Trial Report
Winter Barley Planting Date by Nitrogen Rate Report - MA
2018_Organic_Winter Barley Variety Trial Report

Research conclusions:

Growers who are interested in growing malt barley as a new crop in the Northeastern region of the United States are concerned that their barley may exceed the accepted malt quality protein maximum of 13-13.5%. While increasing nitrogen (N) application rates may boost yields, growers in the region have expressed their interest regarding N management in malt barley. In previous research studies on spring barley, date of planting and nitrogen application rates have been shown to have significant effects on both protein content and grain yield. Winter survival is also of significant concern to those growers seeking to plant winter barley in the fall. Another significant concern is the severity of DON (the mycotoxin Deoxynivalenol aka ‘vomitoxin’, caused by Fusarium Head Blight) as a possibly influenced by N application and date of winter barley planting. The impact of fall and spring N applications and any interaction with date of planting have not been established in this region. This project evaluated the impact of date of planting, as well as fall and spring N applications, on winter barley survival, grain yield, and various malt quality indices in western Massachusetts and northern Vermont.

In general, there was no advantage to planting before the 3^rd week of September. Most winter small grains are recommended to be planted by the 3^rd week of September in the northeast. Based on this trial winter barley performs the best when planted at similar times to other small grains (wheat, triticale, and rye). Earlier planting of grains can actually lead to over growth in the fall and potentially cause smothering issues in the early spring. Larger applications of N (75 lbs ac^-1) in the spring resulted in numerically increased yields at all locations, however higher foliar disease was often associated with the highest rate of application. Protein levels also increased modestly with spring applied N. At the Vermont site there was a large protein increase when a small amount of N was applied in the fall (25 lbs ac^-1) and a higher amount in the spring (75 lbs ac^-1). It has been documented in other grain crops that N applications will first be used by the plant to meet yield (growth) demands and then be partitioned into protein. Hence if adequate N is available to meet yield demands additional N will increase protein. This fall N application may have given the plant the extra N required to meet yield demands and was able to boost protein. Additional research would need to be conducted to confirm optimum fall and spring applications of N for winter barley.

Nitrogen applied in the fall represents a fertilizer expenditure for growers and the potential N loss to the environment with no measureable benefit at harvest. The decreasing NUE in relationship to increasing spring N applications is to be expected, however, is counterbalanced by numerically increasing total yields. Appropriate application of spring N to winter barley should be informed by this relationship, as well as by the cost of N fertilizer, expected market price of malt barley and input costs specific to the grower.

In malt barley production, nitrogen (N) applications must be managed to prevent excess protein levels in the grain. Legume cover crops/green manures may provide sufficient bioavailable N to barley while enhancing soil health. Crimson Clover (Trifolium incarnatum) and Sunn Hemp (Crotalaria juncea) are new legume cover crops to the New England region. We hypothesized that integrating these legume cover crops may partial meet the N requirements of malting barley, while the high lignin content of the Sunn Hemp will increase the soil organic carbon to contribute to overall soil health. In this trial, legumes were utilized as a green manure, planted in the late summer and then incorporated two weeks prior to planting winter barley. In this system, barley also serves a winter cover crop role, holding soil in place throughout the winter and early spring, decreasing the risk of run off and leaching during periods where spring barley would not yet have established root systems. Although the cover crop provided ample biomass (over 2000 lbs of biomass per acre) to the soil and also increased soil nitrate-N concentrations the subsequent barley crop did not differ compared to the control. Essentially the N produced through the growth of the legume cover crops did not lead to enough soil-N to increase yield or protein compared to the no cover crop control. The other benefits associated with summer cover crops should be more largely documented to promote this practice for its soil building properties. The results from this study did indicate that higher seeding rates (500 seeds m^-2) led to increased winter survival and yields compared to the other treatments.

While growers in the Northeast can choose between winter or spring barley varieties, either choice brings challenges not encountered in the major barley growing regions of the United States. While spring barley varieties do not bring the associated risk of crop failure due to winter kill, they are less competitive against spring weed pressure. Many chemicals commonly utilized to control weeds in major barley production regions are not registered for application on malt barley in New England. Winter barley varieties have a significant advantage in weed competition and can typically be grown with no herbicide applications. This has clear economic and environmental advantages over spring barley. It is especially beneficial for organic or ‘no- spray’ growers seeking to meet the demands of a burgeoning locavore movement in the regional farm to brewery consumer environment. Because of the aforementioned advantages, this project evaluated winter barley varieties at the VT location.

Clearly, winter barley is a risky crop for the northern areas of New England with 1 out of 3 years producing a successful crop. However, when the crop does survive the yields and quality are good. The warmer temperatures in the fall of 2017 might have allowed the barley to become better established and survive the winter. The average yield for the trial was 2485 lb ac^-1. Test weight and grain plumpness is an indicator of malting quality. All of the varieties had above industry standards of grain plumpness but only nine varieties had a test weight of 48 lbs/bu or above. The malting industry has standards for crude protein. Barley with low to moderate crude protein tend to be a higher quality malting barley. Generally, high quality 6-row malting barley should be 9-12% protein and high quality 2-row malting barley should be 9-11% protein. High protein barley can cause a beer to become hazy. Higher protein levels are also often associated with lower starch content. Starch is the principal contributor to brew house extract, and higher levels of starch result in more beer produced from a given amount of malt, although some small-scale breweries are minimally concerned with brew house extract efficiency. In 2018, the average protein concentration was 9.07%. There were no varieties that exceeded the ideal protein range, however there were many below the ideal protein range. Generally, it is difficult to obtain higher levels of protein in winter grains. High germination energy levels are also an indicator of good malting quality. Preferably, the germination energy should be over 95%. Falling number is not at standard for malting barley, but studies have shown that a variety with a falling number of 220 seconds or greater has a higher malting quality. All of the varieties tested had a falling number above 220 seconds. Further breeding for winter tolerance will be needed before farmers can safely incorporate this crop into their system. Spring barley is a logical choice for farmers north of MA. The Deerfield, MA location did not experience winter injury in any years.

Overall, winter barley is a viable crop for locations south of Vermont. Planting winter barley by the 3^rd week of September at a slightly higher seeding rate (500 seeds m^-2) resulted in the least winter injury and highest yields. Nitrogen amendments in the spring proved to be advantageous especially to boosting yield. Further research is needed to explore fall N applications in combination with spring N applications to boost yield and protein of the crop.

Participation Summary

3 Farmers participating in research

Educational approach:

This project combined a variety of outreach strategies to deliver malt grain production information to beneficiaries. Malt grain sessions were held at the annual Northern Grain Growers Association (NGGA) winter conference (Essex Jct, VT) and included farmer panels, researchers, brewers, and maltsters covering the basic grounds of growing and processing grain for malt.

Field days were held on-farm's owned by project collaborators and on university research farms. The field days allowed beneficiaries to view current research and learn from active grain operations. The field days highlighted research results, basic production information, and farmer experiences. Expert farmers, researchers, and maltsters from outside our region assisted local farmers with developing skills needed to produce high quality malt grains. One project leader attended a two day malt quality course in New York to learn from experts in other regions and in return share the information with beneficiaries through online articles and at workshops. Research information developed through this project has been shared with beneficiaries through the Northwest Crops and Soils website (www.uvm.edu/extension/nwcrops), development of three short instructional videos (https://www.uvm.edu/extension/nwcrops/grains), and a Northeast Malting Barley Production Guide (https://www.uvm.edu/extension/nwcrops/grains. The NGGA board of directors has served as our advisors for this project. The board consists of farmers, consumers, researchers, maltsters, and bakers. This group meets every 2 months and helped to examine emerging data and develop outreach and extension programs.

Through this project beneficiaries had the opportunity to learn from farms growing grain for malt, researchers working to understand optimum practices for malt grain production in our region, and specific requirements of the end-users including maltsters, brewers, bakers, and distillers. Educational topics included:

•Malt grain market opportunities and requirements.
•Grains that are being sought for malt markets.
•Basic grain production practices including crop rotations, planting date, seeding rate, harvest timing.
•Variety selection and breeding for malt.
•Disease and other pest considerations.
•Fusarium head blight disease cycle and management strategies.
•Harvest strategies that must be employed to minimize damage to the malt grains.
•Best post harvest practices including drying, cleaning, and storage of malt grains.
•Testing for malt quality and the specific importance of testing for mycotoxins.

Milestone #1 (click to expand/collapse)

What beneficiaries do and learn:

3 farmer-collaborators will implement research focused on disease, variety, and fertility management. Six research station trials including variety, fertility, planting date, and disease control studies will be conducted in VT and MA to develop best practices for malt grain.

Proposed number of farmer beneficiaries who will participate:

3

Actual number of farmer beneficiaries who participated:

3

Proposed Completion Date:

December 31, 2017

Status:

Completed

Date Completed:

December 31, 2018

Accomplishments:

Research projects were completed in 2015, 2016, and 2017. In 2018 research projects were only hosted at the VT location and included barley variety trials and planting date studies. This was done because of severe winter kill in other project years.

Overall the research projects were completed as planned. The warm and dry conditions in the late summer and fall of 2015 allowed for the cover crops to establish well and likewise the winter barley. The limited snowfall and cold temperatures during the 2015-2016 winter resulted in varying degrees of winterkill in the winter barley planting date trial and the complete loss of the winter barley variety trial. The winterkill in the planting date trial allowed for high weed pressure in several plots which resulted in poor yields and quality. The warm and dry temperatures during the 2016 growing season resulted in higher yields and low disease pressure. The fall of 2016, was fair and barley established well; however, the winter brought variable weather and led to much winter kill the spring of 2017. The planting date study as well as the variety trial were severely impacted by winter damage. The 2017 was an extremely wet and cool season leading to high grain yields but also high disease pressure.

July 5, 2015- Hosted a research team planning meeting at UVM, Burlington, VT, in order to finalized research plans and plot designs between the two universities and on-farm collaborators.
July 13 - 15, 2015- Cover crops (crimson clover, sun hemp, and a mixture of the two) were planted at Borderview Farm, Alburgh, VT and the UMASS Agricultural Experiment Station Farm, South Deerfield, MA in preparation for the winter barley variety by seeding rate by cover crop trial.
September 5, 2015- First planting date for the planting date by nitrogen trial. 32 plots of Wintmalt barley with different nitrogen treatments were planted at Borderview Farm, Alburgh, VT and UMass Agricultural Experiment Station Farm, South Deerfield, MA.
September 8 & 9, 2015- Heights and plant biomass, and soil nitrate samples were taken of the cover crops before they were terminated at the research sites.
September 15, 2015 – Second planting date for the planting date by nitrogen trial. 32 plots of Wintmalt barley with different nitrogen treatments were planted at Borderview Farm, Alburgh, VT and UMass Agricultural Experiment Station Farm, South Deerfield, MA.
September 25, 2015 - Third planting date for the planting date by nitrogen trial. 32 plots of Wintmalt barley with different nitrogen treatments were planted at Borderview Farm, Alburgh, VT and UMass Agricultural Experiment Station Farm, South Deerfield, MA.
September 25, 2015 - The cover crop by seeding rate trial was planted with 48 plots of Wintmalt barley and 48 plots of Endevour barley with different cover crop and seeding rate treatments at Borderview Farm, Alburgh, VT and UMass Agricultural Experiment Station Farm, South Deerfield, MA.
October 7, 2015 – Fall nitrogen amendments added to plots in the planting date by nitrogen trial at Borderview Farm, Alburgh, VT and UMass Agricultural Experiment Station Farm, South Deerfield, MA.
October 14, 2015 – Populations (number of plants in three 12 inch segments of a row) were collected for the planting date by nitrogen trial.
November 5, 2015 – Soil nitrate samples were taken in the planting date by nitrogen trial plots at Borderview Farm, Alburgh, VT and UMass Agricultural Experiment Station Farm, South Deerfield, MA. Heights were collected for the barley in both the seeding rate by cover crop and nitrogen by planting date trials. Populations (number of plants in three 12 inch segments of a row) were collected for the seeding rate by cover crop trial.
April 2016 – Winter survival (percent survival based on visual assessment) was assessed in winter barley trials at all sites.
May 2016 – Spring nitrogen amendments added to plots in the planting date by nitrogen trial at all sites.
June 2016 – Flowering dates were collected for winter barley trials at all sites.
July 2016 – The seeding rate by cover crop trial was harvested at all sites. Plot weight, moisture content and test weight were measured. A 300 gram subsample from each plot was collected for analysis at the Cereal Testing Laboratory at the University of Vermont, Burlington, VT. The planting date by nitrogen trial was harvested at all sites. Plot weight, moisture content and test weight were measured. A 300 gram subsample was collected from each plot for analysis at the Cereal Testing Laboratory at the University of Vermont, Burlington, VT.
July - December 2016 – Samples being processed for quality at the Cereal Testing Laboratory at the University of Vermont, Burlington, VT. Measurements include germination rate, plumpness, crude protein, falling number, and DON levels.
August 2016- Cover crops (crimson clover, sun hemp, and a mixture of the two) were planted in VT and MA in preparation for the winter barley variety by seeding rate by cover crop trial.
September 2016- The second year of the winter barley planting date by nitrogen and cover crop by variety and seeding rate trials were established and the 2^nd year of the winter barley variety trial was planted.
October 2016- Fall nitrogen amendments added to plots in the planting date by nitrogen trial at all sites.

November 5, 2016 – Soil nitrate samples were taken in the planting date by nitrogen trial plots at Borderview Farm, Alburgh, VT. Heights were collected for the barley in both the seeding rate by cover crop and nitrogen by planting date trials. Populations (number of plants in three 12 inch segments of a row) were collected for the seeding rate by cover crop trial.
April 2017 – Winter survival (percent survival based on visual assessment) was assessed in winter barley trials at all sites.
June 2017 – Flowering dates were collected for winter barley trials at all sites.
July 2017 – The seeding rate by cover crop trial was harvested at all sites. Plot weight, moisture content and test weight were measured. A 300 gram subsample from each plot was collected for analysis at the Cereal Testing Laboratory at the University of Vermont, Burlington, VT.
August 2017 to present – Samples processed for quality at the Cereal Testing Laboratory at the University of Vermont, Burlington, VT. Measurements include germination rate, plumpness, crude protein, falling number, and DON levels.
September 2017- The third year of the winter barley planting date by nitrogen and the 3^rd year of the winter barley variety trial was planted at the VT site only.
October 2017- Fall nitrogen amendments added to plots in the planting date by nitrogen trial at all sites.
April 2018 – Winter survival (percent survival based on visual assessment) was assessed in winter barley trials at all sites.
June 2018 – Flowering dates were collected for winter barley trials at all sites.
July 2018 – The planting date and variety trials were harvested. Plot weight, moisture content and test weight were measured. A 300 gram subsample from each plot was collected for analysis at the Cereal Testing Laboratory at the University of Vermont, Burlington, VT.
August 2018 to December – Samples processed for quality at the Cereal Testing Laboratory at the University of Vermont, Burlington, VT. Measurements include germination rate, plumpness, crude protein, falling number, and DON levels.

Publications and Reports that Highlight Research:

Darby, H., and E. Cummings. 2016. Be On the Lookout for Loose Smut. University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops & Soils Program, St. Albans, VT. June blog post, available online at: http://blog.uvm.edu/outcropn/2016/06/20/be-on-the-look-out-for-loose-smut/ (accessed 21 Dec. 2016)

Wise, C. R., M. Hashemi, D. Cooley, and E. Petit. Head Blight in Brewing Barley and Other Small Grains. University of Massachusetts Amherst Extension Fact Sheet, 2016. Link: https://projects.sare.org/wp-content/uploads/fhb_factsheet.pdf

Wise, C. R., and M. Hashemi. Ongoing Malt Barley Research Projects at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. CDLE Newsletter (summer 2016) 18(4): 18-19

Wise, C. R. and M. Hashemi. 2015. Impacts of Planting Date, Nitrogen, Cultivar and Zinc on Barley Malt Quality. UMass Agricultural Field Day, Research Report. Pg 24.

October 3, 2016- “Managing Planting Date and Nitrogen Application for Local Malting Barley Production” Plant Biology Symposium, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

November 8, 2016- “Grain yield and malting indices of brewing barley as affected by time of planting and nitrogen management in the Northeastern USA” ASA, CSSA and SSSA International Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ.

Darby, H., H. Emick and E. Cummings. 2016. 2016 Winter Barley Seeding Rate, Cover Crop and Variety Trial. University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops & Soils Program, St. Albans, VT. Available online at: https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/Northwest-Crops-and-Soils-Program/2016-ResearchReports/2016_Winter_Barley_SRxCCxVar_Report.pdf (accessed 1 Apr. 2019).

Darby, H., H. Emick and E. Cummings. 2016. 2016 Winter Barley Planting Date and Nitrogen Amendment Trial. University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops & Soils Program, St. Albans, VT. Available online https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/Northwest-Crops-and-Soils-Program/2016-ResearchReports/2016_Winter_Barley_PDxN_Report.pdf (accessed 1 Apr. 2019).

Darby, H., H. Emick and E. Cummings. 2016. 2016 Winter Malting Barley Variety Trial. University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops & Soils Program, St. Albans, VT. Available online at: https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/Northwest-Crops-and-Soils-Program/2016-ResearchReports/2016_Organic_WBVT.pdf (accessed 1 Apr. 2019).

Darby, H., H. Emick and E. Cummings. 2018. 2017 Winter Barley Seeding Rate and Cover Crop Trial. University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops & Soils Program, St. Albans, VT. Available online: https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/media/2017_Winter_Barley_SRxCCxVar_Report.pdf (accessed 1 Apr. 2019).

Darby, H., E. Cummings, and H. Emick. 2018. 2017 Organic Winter Malting Barley Variety Trial. University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops & Soils Program, St. Albans, VT. Available online at: https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/media/2017_Organic_WBVT_Report_Vermont.pdf (Accessed 1 Apr. 2019).

Darby, H., H. Emick, and H. Jean. 2019. 2018 Winter Barley Planting Date and Nitrogen Amendment Trial. University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops & Soils Program, St. Albans, VT. Available online at: https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/media/2018_Winter_Barley_PDxN_Report.pdf (Accessed 1 Apr. 2019).

Darby, H., H. Jean and H. Emick. 2019. 2018 Organic Winter Malting Barley Variety Trial. University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops & Soils Program, St. Albans, VT. Available online at: https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/media/2018_organic_WBVT.pdf (Accessed 1 Apr. 2019).

Milestone #2 (click to expand/collapse)

What beneficiaries do and learn:

Farmers will attend on-farm workshops and receive information on variety selection, fertility and disease management, harvest techniques to reduce damage to grain, and drying and storage practices. Project goals and verification strategies will be shared. 30 farms agreed to keep malt grain records.

Proposed number of farmer beneficiaries who will participate:

150

Proposed number of agriculture service provider beneficiaries who will participate:

50

Actual number of farmer beneficiaries who participated:

1013

Actual number of agriculture service provider beneficiaries who participated:

676

Proposed Completion Date:

July 28, 2016

Status:

Completed

Date Completed:

November 09, 2018

Accomplishments:

Outreach Activities:

March 18, 2015- 11^th Annual Grain Growers Conference, Essex, VT. Barley breeder Scott Fisk from Oregon State gave presentations on malting barley. Hard copies of the 2014 winter barley variety, spring barley fungicide, spring barley variety, and heirloom spring barley variety trial reports were given out. Surveyed conference goers about their experience and interest in growing malting barley, specifically what additional information is needed in order to grow malting barley successfully. There were 133 attendees.

June 24, 2015 - UMass Barley Field Day, Deerfield, MA. Growers, brewing industry, and Ag Service providers came to UMass research farm for networking and learn about current research about brewing barley. There were 80 attendees.

February 1, 2016 - Hudson Valley Grain School, Lathrop, NY. Several speakers from throughout the northeast presented on growing grains. This included farmer, extension, and researcher speakers. The focus was primarily on malt barley production. There were 105 attendees.

March 17, 2016- 12^th Annual Grain Growers Conference, Essex, VT. Andrea Stanley from Valley Malt (MA) and Bruno Vachon from Maltiere Frontenac (Quebec) described their quest to source local malt from farmers. They described varieteis and quality parameters they were interested in obtaining. Dr. Heather Darby talked about agronomic practices that promote high quality malt barley in the northeast. Gary Bergstrom fro Cornell helped the audience learn about diseases that impact the quality and yield of barley in the northeast. There were 138 attendees.

June 16, 2016 - A group of 10 barley specialists from North Dakota State University, plus Andrea Stanley (Vally Malt), 2 graduate students, and 2 barley growers visited the experimental site to discuss the gaps in research and how spring barley quality can be improved for brewing.

June 28, 2016- Grain Research Tour, Borderview Research Farm, Alburgh, VT. Toured the winter and spring barley research trials and answered questions from growers. Distributed grain scouting report, and 2015 barley research reports. There were 39 in attendance.

July 28, 2016- Annual Crops & Soils Field Day, Alburgh, VT. Toured the research plots and answered questions from growers. Held an afternoon session on scouting grains for pests and diseases. There were 185 attendees.

March 17, 2017- 13^th Annual Grain Growers Conference, Essex, VT. Brook Brouwer from Washington State gave talks on growing barley for malting purposes. Hard copies of the 2015 spring barley fungicide, spring barley variety, and heirloom spring barley variety trial reports were available. Surveyed conference goers about their experience and interest in growing malting barley, specifically what additional information is needed in order to grow malting barley successfully. There were 142 attendees

June 2, 2017. Brewing Barley Workshop at Stony Cow Brewery to learn about all aspects of brewing barley presented by 5 experts. There were 50 attendees.

July 27, 2017. 10th Annual Northwest Crops and Soils Field Day - A Decade of Innovation-Germination-Application, Borderview Research Farm, Alburgh, VT. Afternoon session toured grain trials and trained growers how to scout and identify grain diseases in the field. There were 302 attendees.

August 22, 2017. Harvesting and Malting Barley. Peterson’s Quality Malt, Monkton, VT. Walked barley field, identified disease and pest issues, discussed management options, and discussed harvesting techniques, then toured the malt house and talked about quality requirements for malting barley and the malting process. There were 33 attendees.

March 22, 2018. The 14^th Annual Grain Growers Conference- Diversifying Grains for a Changing Climate, Essex, VT. Richard Horsley from North Dakota University spoke to the participants about growing high quality malt. Aaron McCloud from Hartwick College talked about malt quality testing and impacts of quality and brewing. There were 149 attendees.

July 28, 2018- Annual Crops & Soils Field Day, Alburgh, VT. Toured the research plots and answered questions from growers. Held an afternoon session on how to grow high quality malt and brewing impacts. Maltsters and brewers were present. There were 235 attendees.

November 2018 – Grower Meeting at Peterson Quality Malt, Charlotte, VT. Toured the new malt facility and saw malt process. Discussed production techniques and varieties best suited for malt. There were 22 growers.

March 2019 - The 15th Annual Grain Growers Conference-Stories of an Evolving Food System, Essex, VT. March 28, 2019. Paul Schartz from North Dakota State University spoke on malt quality for barley, rye, and wheat. The Buck Brothers from Maine and Andrew Peterson from Peterson Quality Malt talked about forming brewer/grower relationships. There were 113 attendees.

April 2019 – Malt Barley Sensory Analysis with Rich Horsley from North Dakota State held in Burlington, VT. Barley from the Barley Variety Trials were malted and teas were made from the top performing varieties. Malt quality parameters were discussed by Dr. Horsley and Maltsters. Tea was tasted by attendees and flavor profiles were identified for each variety. There were 20 farmers, maltsters, and brewers in attendance at the event.

At these events, recordkeeping booklets were made available to all interested farmers. Since the onset of the project there have been more than 1000 booklets (average 250 per year) provided to farmers. Obviously, some farmers may have taken more than one booklets and not every farmer at the events produces barley. However, based on post event surveys we know that 41 farmers reported that they grew barley in the northeast region (VT, NY, NH, MA, PA Quebec, and Ontario).

Milestone #3 (click to expand/collapse)

What beneficiaries do and learn:

Beneficiaries will attend a special “malt grain” session at the NGGA winter conference. Expert growers, researchers and extension will develop a daylong agenda focused on production, harvest, and storage strategies for malt grain. Topics include variety selection, planter maintenance, nitrogen and disease management, harvest timing, combine specifications, cleaning and drying requirements.

Proposed number of farmer beneficiaries who will participate:

70

Proposed number of agriculture service provider beneficiaries who will participate:

30

Actual number of farmer beneficiaries who participated:

186

Actual number of agriculture service provider beneficiaries who participated:

30

Proposed Completion Date:

March 30, 2017

Status:

Completed

Date Completed:

March 28, 2019

Accomplishments:

Four grain conferences have been held since the start of this project. Each year there has been a barley focused track at the conference. The track includes 2 to 3 hour long presentations from expert farmers, maltsters, brewers, bakers, and researchers. Details of the events are below.

March 2015- 11^th Annual Grain Growers Conference, Essex, VT. Barley breeder Scott Fisk from Oregon State gave presentations on malting barley. Hard copies of the 2014 winter barley variety, spring barley fungicide, spring barley variety, and heirloom spring barley variety trial reports were given out. There were 133 attendees with 42 in barley session.

March 2016- 12^th Annual Grain Growers Conference, Essex, VT. Andrea Stanley from Valley Malt (MA) and Bruno Vachon from Maltiere Frontenac (Quebec) described their quest to source local malt from farmers. They described varieteis and quality parameters they were interested in obtaining. Dr. Heather Darby talked about agronomic practices that promote high quality malt barley in the northeast. Gary Bergstrom fro Cornell helped the audience learn about diseases that impact the quality and yield of barley in the northeast. There were 138 attendees with 38 in barley session.

March 2017- 12^th Annual Grain Growers Conference, Essex, VT. Brook Brouwer from Washington State gave talks on growing barley for malting purposes. Hard copies of the 2015 spring barley fungicide, spring barley variety, and heirloom spring barley variety trial reports were available. There were 142 attendees with 46 in barley session.

March 2018- 13^th Annual Grain Growers Conference-‘Changing Crops for a Changing World’, Essex, VT. There were 149 attendees with 51 in barley session.

NDSU Plant Breeder Richard Horsley, PhD, covered production practices that could be used to reduce the risk of having barley rejected for malting.
Aaron MacLeod, Director of the Hartwick College Center for Craft Food and Beverage discussed the chemistry of the malting process and the unique malting & brewing qualities of Northeastern grains.
Jeffrey Hamelman, King Arthur Flour, and Randy George, Red Hen Baking Co., lead a hands-on workshop using barley malt for caramels, malted milk balls, malted milk shakes, and as an addition to baked goods.
Hard copies of the small grain trial reports were available.

March 2019 - The 15th Annual Grain Growers Conference-Stories of an Evolving Food System, Essex, VT. There were 113 attendees with 39 in barley session.

Paul Schartz from North Dakota State University spoke on malt quality for barley, rye, and wheat.
The Buck Brothers from Maine and Andrew Peterson from Peterson Quality Malt talked about forming brewer/grower relationships.
Darby and team talked about local malt barley research and made research reports available.

Milestone #4 (click to expand/collapse)

What beneficiaries do and learn:

Farmers will attend workshops on malt grain quality hosted by maltsters. The event will include information on quality parameters, testing, and production strategies to meet standards.

Proposed number of farmer beneficiaries who will participate:

60

Proposed number of agriculture service provider beneficiaries who will participate:

15

Actual number of farmer beneficiaries who participated:

79

Actual number of agriculture service provider beneficiaries who participated:

27

Proposed Completion Date:

August 31, 2017

Status:

Completed

Date Completed:

November 09, 2018

Accomplishments:

10th Annual Northwest Crops and Soils Field Day - A Decade of Innovation-Germination-Application, Borderview Research Farm, Alburgh, VT. July 27, 2017. There were 302 attendees. An afternoon session was focused on malting grain, process, quality requirements, and end-products. The afternoon session had 31 attendees.

Harvesting and Malting Barley. Peterson’s Quality Malt, Monkton, VT. During the field day attendees walked barley fields and discussed harvesting techniques, then toured the malt house and talked about quality requirements for malting barley and the malting process. There were 33 attendees.

Annual Northwest Crops and Soils Field Day – July 26, 2018 – ‘There’s Something Growing on Around Here’, Borderview Research Farm, Alburgh, VT. An afternoon session toured barley trials, trained growers how to identify grain diseases, and focused on harvesting malt barley. There were 42 attendees in the session.

Milestone #5 (click to expand/collapse)

What beneficiaries do and learn:

Farms and other stakeholders receive best practices for growing grains for malting in the Northeast through web including video series, research reports, and agronomic guides.

Proposed number of farmer beneficiaries who will participate:

400

Proposed number of agriculture service provider beneficiaries who will participate:

100

Actual number of farmer beneficiaries who participated:

1234

Actual number of agriculture service provider beneficiaries who participated:

450

Proposed Completion Date:

July 31, 2018

Status:

Completed

Date Completed:

July 31, 2018

Accomplishments:

Many of the resources that are produced (such as research reports) are posted online. Google analytics was used determine views and downloads at the end of the project. Below are manuals, videos, and reports that have been posted online.

Darby, H. and H. Emick. 2018. Guide to Malting Barley Production in the Northeast. Available online at: https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/media/BarleyProductionGuide_FINALAug2019.pdf. (accessed 1 Sep. 2019).

Darby, H. and A. Gervais. 2018. Strategies for Growing High Quality Malt Barley in the Northeast. Available online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tADX50Vcvtc&feature=youtu.be (accessed 1 Sep. 2019).

Darby, H. and A. Gervais. 2018. Strategies for Harvesting High Quality Malt Barley in the Northeast. Available online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb4UWqn82xo&feature=youtu.be (accessed 1 Sep. 2019).

Darby, H. and A. Gervais. 2018. Strategies to Store High Quality Malt Barley in the Northeast. Available online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE-GxyrFJnE (accessed 1 Sep. 2019).

Darby, H., E. Cummings, L. Calderwood, J. Cubins, A. Gupta, J. Post and S. Zeigler. 2015. The Efficacy of Spraying Fungicides to Control Fusarium Head Blight Infection in Spring Malting Barley. University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops & Soils Program, St. Albans, VT. Available online at: https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/Northwest-Crops-and-Soils-Program/2015-ResearchReports/2015_Spring_Barley_Fungicide.pdf (accessed 1 Apr. 2019).

Darby, H., J. Cubins, L. Calderwood, E. Cummings, A. Gupta, J. Post and S. Zeigler. 2015. 2015 Spring Barley Seeding Rate and Interseeding Trial. University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops & Soils Program, St. Albans, VT. Available online at: https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/Northwest-Crops-and-Soils-Program/2015-ResearchReports/2015_Spring_Barley_SR_and_Interseed_Trial.pdf (accessed 1 Apr. 2019).

Darby, H., E. Cummings, L. Calderwood, J. Cubins, A. Gupta, J. Post and S. Zeigler. 2015. 2015 Organic Spring Barley Variety Trial. University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops & Soils Program, St. Albans, VT. Available online at: https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/Northwest-Crops-and-Soils-Program/2015-ResearchReports/2015_Organic_Spring_Barley_Variety_Trial.pdf (accessed 1 Apr. 2019).

Darby, H., and E. Cummings. 2016. Be On the Lookout for Loose Smut. University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops & Soils Program, St. Albans, VT. June blog post, available online at: http://blog.uvm.edu/outcropn/2016/06/20/be-on-the-look-out-for-loose-smut/ (accessed 21 Dec. 2016)

Wise, C. R., M. Hashemi, D. Cooley, and E. Petit. Head Blight in Brewing Barley and Other Small Grains. University of Massachusetts Amherst Extension Fact Sheet, 2016. Link: https://projects.sare.org/wp-content/uploads/fhb_factsheet.pdf

Wise, C. R., and M. Hashemi. Ongoing Malt Barley Research Projects at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. CDLE Newsletter (summer 2016) 18(4): 18-19

Wise, C. R. and M. Hashemi. 2015. Impacts of Planting Date, Nitrogen, Cultivar and Zinc on Barley Malt Quality. UMass Agricultural Field Day, Research Report. Pg 24.

June 14, 2016- Lead Presenter of Barley research initiatives at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, to malt barley researchers from North Dakota State University and Hardwick College, a representative from the craft maltsters guild, and regional barley growers and maltsters.

October 3, 2016- “Managing Planting Date and Nitrogen Application for Local Malting Barley Production” Plant Biology Symposium, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

November 8, 2016- “Grain yield and malting indices of brewing barley as affected by time of planting and nitrogen management in the Northeastern USA” ASA, CSSA and SSSA International Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ.

2015-Present-Technical advisor to Matt Zarif on his SARE farmer grant with Carter and Stevens Farm in the development of a malt barley production system during the establishment of Stone Cow Brewery.

Darby, H., E. Cummings and J. Post. 2016. The Efficacy of Spraying Fungicides to Control Fusarium Head Blight Infection in Spring Malting Barley. University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops & Soils Program, St. Albans, VT. Available online at: https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/Northwest-Crops-and-Soils-Program/2016-ResearchReports/2016_Spring_Barley_Fungicide.pdf (accessed 1 Apr. 2019).

Darby, H., E. Cummings, and H. Emick. 2016. 2016 Organic Spring Barley Variety Trial. University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops & Soils Program, St. Albans, VT. Available online at https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/Northwest-Crops-and-Soils-Program/2016-ResearchReports/2016_Organic_Spring_Barley_VT.pdf (accessed 1 Apr. 2019).

Darby, H., H. Emick and E. Cummings. 2016. 2016 Winter Barley Seeding Rate, Cover Crop and Variety Trial. University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops & Soils Program, St. Albans, VT. Available online at: https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/Northwest-Crops-and-Soils-Program/2016-ResearchReports/2016_Winter_Barley_SRxCCxVar_Report.pdf (accessed 1 Apr. 2019).

Darby, H., H. Emick and E. Cummings. 2016. 2016 Winter Barley Planting Date and Nitrogen Amendment Trial. University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops & Soils Program, St. Albans, VT. Available online https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/Northwest-Crops-and-Soils-Program/2016-ResearchReports/2016_Winter_Barley_PDxN_Report.pdf (accessed 1 Apr. 2019).

Darby, H., H. Emick and E. Cummings. 2016. 2016 Winter Malting Barley Variety Trial. University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops & Soils Program, St. Albans, VT. Available online at: https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/Northwest-Crops-and-Soils-Program/2016-ResearchReports/2016_Organic_WBVT.pdf (accessed 1 Apr. 2019).

Darby, H., E. Cummings, H. Emick and S. Ziegler. 2018. 2017 The Efficacy of Spraying Fungicides to Control Fusarium Head Blight Infection in Spring Malting Barley. University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops & Soils Program, St. Albans, VT. Available online at: https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/media/2017_Spring_Barley_Fungicide.pdf (accessed 1 Apr. 2019).

Darby, H., E. Cummings, H. Emick and S. Ziegler. 2018. 2017 Organic Spring Barley Variety Trial. University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops & Soils Program, St. Albans, VT. Available online at https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/media/2017_Spring_Barley_VT_Report.pdf (accessed 1 Apr. 2019).

Darby, H., H. Emick and E. Cummings. 2018. 2017 Winter Barley Seeding Rate and Cover Crop Trial. University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops & Soils Program, St. Albans, VT. Available online: https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/media/2017_Winter_Barley_SRxCCxVar_Report.pdf (accessed 1 Apr. 2019).

Darby, H., E. Cummings, and H. Emick. 2018. 2017 Organic Winter Malting Barley Variety Trial. University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops & Soils Program, St. Albans, VT. Available online at: https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/media/2017_Organic_WBVT_Report_Vermont.pdf (Accessed 1 Apr. 2019).

Darby, H., H. Emick, and H. Jean. 2019. 2018 Organic Spring Barley Variety Trial. University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops & Soils Program, St. Albans, VT. Available online at: https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/media/2018_Spring_Barley_VT_Report.pdf (Accessed 1 Apr. 2019).

Darby, H. H. Emick, and E. Cummings. 2019. 2018 The Efficacy of Spraying Fungicides to Control Fusarium Head Blight Infection in Spring Malting Barley. University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops & Soils Program, St. Albans, VT. Available online at: https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/media/2018_Spring_Barley_Fungicide.pdf (Accessed 1 Apr. 2019).

Darby, H., H. Emick, and H. Jean. 2019. 2018 Winter Barley Planting Date and Nitrogen Amendment Trial. University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops & Soils Program, St. Albans, VT. Available online at: https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/media/2018_Winter_Barley_PDxN_Report.pdf (Accessed 1 Apr. 2019).

Darby, H., H. Jean and H. Emick. 2019. 2018 Organic Winter Malting Barley Variety Trial. University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops & Soils Program, St. Albans, VT. Available online at: https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/media/2018_organic_WBVT.pdf (Accessed 1 Apr. 2019).

Milestone #6 (click to expand/collapse)

What beneficiaries do and learn:

Farms attend malt grain update session at NGGA winter conference. Farms learn research results and share successes and challenges. Farms return records and report increase in acres and yield of malt grains, decrease in disease pressure, and increase in quality translating into successful sales to maltsters.

Proposed number of farmer beneficiaries who will participate:

25

Actual number of farmer beneficiaries who participated:

31

Proposed Completion Date:

March 31, 2017

Status:

Completed

Date Completed:

April 15, 2019

Accomplishments:

Through the research and educational program, this project provided information on growing malt grains to over 1000 farmers and 600 service providers throughout the northeastern states, Quebec, Ontario, and the Canadian Maritimes.

Of the 31 farmers (14 new barley growers and 17 established growers) growing barley on 1068 acres reporting directly on the project outcomes, 78% indicated that they were able to improve farm viability.

As a result, of information gained from this project, farmers reported the economic value gained for their business ranged from $1,000 up to $200,000 per farm with a total impact of approximately $778,000. This was likely because 70% reported increased yields, 85% increased their ability to meet quality standards, and 93% indicated they had better access to markets. Yield increases associated with new knowledge gained from the barley project ranged from 250 to 1000 lbs per acre. Quality improvements were primarily made through proper variety selection, harvest timing, and fungicide applications. Farmers were receiving an average price of $0.30 per pound of malt grade barley sold locally. Sales not related to malt were bringing only $0.10 per pound unless the farm was organic where prices averaged $0.50.

In 2016, there were 3 new farms that started growing malt barley in VT, 1 in NY, and 1 in MA on 102 acres. Of these 5 farms we assisted with basic technical assistance including variety selection, seeding rate, and quality analysis. In 2017, there was 1 new farmer from VT that built a successful partnership with a local malthouse and grew 50 acres of malt barley. Again we helped with basic agronomic questions and quality analysis of the malt. In 2018, a malt house in VT began a large expansion leading to 8 new farms growing malt barley in VT on 565 acres. Again, we assisted with variety, seeding rate, planting date, soil testing, soil fertility, pest scouting, and fungicide recommendations. With the exception of 50 acres, the barley made malt grade and was purchased by a local maltster. These fields produced approximately 645 ton of malt barley garnering a value of $387,180 for the 14 new farmers growing this crop. Farmers reported their intent to expand their acreage in malt grains in the coming year.

Educational activities:

40 Consultations

7 Curricula, factsheets or educational tools

1 Journal articles

2 On-farm demonstrations

1 Online trainings

3 Published press articles, newsletters

18 Webinars / talks / presentations

15 Workshop field days

Participation Summary:

1,013 Farmers participated

676 Number of agricultural educator or service providers reached through education and outreach activities

72 Farmers reported changes in knowledge, attitudes, skills and/or awareness as a result of their participation

45 Agricultural service providers reported changes in knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes as a result of their participation

Key areas in which farmers reported changes in knowledge, attitude, skills and/or awareness:

Surveys were conducted following major outreach events and also an end of project survey conducted. Respondents reported knowledge gained in the following areas:

Variety selection
Managing soil fertility
Scouting techniques
Weed management
Disease management
Quality analysis
Grain markets
Tillage and planting practices

Target #1

Target: number of farmers:

25

Target: change/adoption:

They will implement a best management practice identified for malt barley production.

Target: amount of production affected:

At least 500 acres will be affected by the change in practices to produce malt barley.

Target: quantified benefit(s):

Farmers will produce 450,000 lbs of malt barley with a value of $205,000.

Actual: number of farmers:

31

Actual: change/adoption:

Farmers reported adopting soil fertility modifications, new varieties, proper variety selection, crop rotations, adoption of fungicides, adjustments to harvest timing, and access to network of farmers attributing to their success with growing malting barley that meets industry standards.

Actual: amount of production affected:

Of the 31 farmers (14 new barley growers and 17 established growers) growing barley on 1068 acres reporting directly on the project outcomes, 78% indicated that they were able to improve farm viability.

Actual: quantified benefit(s):

As a result, of information gained from this project, farmers reported the economic value gained for their business ranged from $1,000 up to $200,000 per farm with a total impact of approximately $778,000. This was likely because 70% reported increased yields, 85% increased their ability to meet quality standards, and 93% indicated they had better access to markets. Yield increases associated with new knowledge gained from the barley project ranged from 250 to 1000 lbs per acre. Quality improvements were primarily made through proper variety selection, harvest timing, and fungicide applications. Farmers were receiving an average price of $0.30 per pound of malt grade barley sold locally. Sales not related to malt were bringing only $0.10 per pound unless the farm was organic where prices averaged $0.50.
In 2016, there were 3 new farms that started growing malt barley in VT, 1 in NY, and 1 in MA on 102 acres. Of these 5 farms we assisted with basic technical assistance including variety selection, seeding rate, and quality analysis. In 2017, there was 1 new farmer from VT that built a successful partnership with a local malthouse and grew 50 acres of malt barley. Again we helped with basic agronomic questions and quality analysis of the malt. In 2018, a malt house in VT began a large expansion leading to 8 new farms growing malt barley in VT on 565 acres. Again, we assisted with variety, seeding rate, planting date, soil testing, soil fertility, pest scouting, and fungicide recommendations. With the exception of 50 acres, the barley made malt grade and was purchased by a local maltster. These fields produced approximately 645 ton of malt barley garnering a value of $387,180 for the 14 new farmers growing this crop. Farmers reported their intent to expand their acreage in malt grains in the coming year.

Performance Target Outcome Narrative:

Outcome data was collected throughout the project period. Generally, post event surveys at the winter grain conference were a primary means to collect feedback from stakeholders. During the course of the project barley specific sessions were hosted at the winter conference and farmers were asked to answer a short survey. The surveys included questions related to knowledge gained, practices implemented, and outcome of knowledge and practice implementation. Many of our conference growers are repeat customers and hence it was easier to track change from year to year. Recordkeeping books were distributed to our stakeholders and farmers to help them monitor production data. Each barley session had between 100 and 45 attendees depending on the year. The response rate to our surveys were 72%. Although collected outcome data is always challenging, the ability to survey growers from year to year at our grain conference made the job easier.

31 Farmers changed or adopted a practice

2 Grants applied for that built upon this project

2 Grants received that built upon this project

$45,000.00 Dollar amount of grants received that built upon this project

8 New working collaborations

Additional Outcomes:

During the project the Masoud and Darby were part of a collaboration to develop a malt barley variety testing/evaluation program in the eastern part of the United States. There has been yearly funding from the Brewer's Association to support the variety evaluation program that now occurs in MA, VT, NY, PA, ME, MI, and the Maritimes of Canada. In addition, the US Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative began to include Darby in their yearly grant funding to support research that works to develop integrated management for control of head blight in barley.

Developing best management practice for growing grain suitable for malt in the Northeast

Project Information

Cooperators

Research

WINTER BARLEY VARIETY BY SEEDING RATE BY COVER CROP TRIAL

Table 1. Weather data for winter barley variety trial in Alburgh, VT.

Table 5. Weather data for winter barley variety trial in Alburgh, VT.

WINTER BARLEY PLANTING DATE BY NITROGEN RATE TRIAL

WINTER BARLEY VARIETY TRIAL

Education

Milestones

Milestone Activities and Participation Summary

Educational activities:

Participation Summary:

Learning Outcomes

Performance Target Outcomes

Target #1

Additional Project Outcomes

Information Products