UMaine Extension testing grain crops for beer industry, Fiddlehead Focus reports
Fiddlehead Focus published an article about how the booming craft beer industry is offering new opportunities for Maine farmers, including potato farmers who have long grown grains that mostly sell for animal feed. Researchers with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension are studying 25 varieties of barley, the base grain in many beers, to help farmers and brewers learn more about the best barley for malting, according to the article. Beer- and food-grade grains have more protein and better overall quality than grains sold for animal feed, and craft beer uses three to four times as much malt as mass-market beers, said Andrew Plant, a professor with UMaine Extension in Aroostook County. “From a local economic scale, that means a lot to people when you can be selling four times as much,” and at a higher price, Plant said at a recent presentation. “Variety selection is probably the first step a grower can take in addressing quality parameters,” said Tom Molloy, a research associate in sustainable agriculture with UMaine Extension.