Canadian Barley Harvest 2020

Brought to you by the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre (CMBTC), this page provides up-to-date information on the Western Canadian barley harvest and crop quality for 2020. Please check back every week for updates.

2020 CANADA BARLEY CROP YEAR VIDEO

Each year, the CMBTC hosts customers of Canadian malting barley and malt for new crop tours to see the barley near the end of the growing season and during harvest, meet the farmers that grow their barley, and the industry that delivers it. Given in the summer of 2020 we were not able to host a new crop tour, we put together this video to give customers a sense of the crop year, and have the opportunity to see some images of the 2020 Canadian malting barley crop and hear from some of the farmers. Enjoy!

Western Canada crop update

October 19, 2020

2020 Malting Barley Harvest Quality Update

The barley harvest has all but wrapped up, and this year’s malt barley crop in western Canada will rate as one of the better quality crops in the last ten years with excellent plump kernels, high test weight and protein levels in the 11-13.5% range with a low incidence of DON and limited issues with pre-harvest sprouting. Southern Alberta produced their first large quality barley crop after three years of drought. Saskatchewan had a high quality crop this year with most regions producing above average yields. There were several exceptions, including northern growing areas of Alberta and northwestern Saskatchewan that saw cool and wet weather for much of the growing season, reducing yields and all but wiping out any chance for malting barley selection. On the other extreme, some parts of southern Saskatchewan and Alberta were much too dry resulting in thin, high protein kernels.

Germination plates for 2020 crop malting barley samples from Provincial trials.
2020 crop malting barley in process in the Joe White micromalting unit.
CDC Fraser – Rosthern, SK
CDC Copeland – Rosthern, SK
CDC Copeland – Kindersly, SK
AC Metcalfe – Kindersley, SK
AAC Synergy – Valhalla Centre, AB
AAC Connect – Red Deer, AB. Taken August 17, seeded May 16
CDC Bow – Lethbridge, AB
Combining CDC Bow barley on August 29th, Lethbridge, AB
CDC Churchill – Westway Farms, Didsbury, AB. Field ran over 100 bu/acre. Taken Sept 1, 2020.

CDC Churchill – Westway Farms, Didsbury, AB. Field ran over 100 bu/acre. Taken Sept 1, 2020.
CDC Fraser – Rosthern, SK
Combining CDC Bow barley on August 29th, Lethbridge, AB
CDC Bow – Lethbridge, AB
AAC Connect – Rosthern, SK
CDC Fraser – taken around August 20, 2020. Photo credit: Braeden Crone at Moose Jaw, SK. Field went over 80 bus per acre on 3 inches of total rainfall.
CDC Fraser – taken around August 20, 2020. Photo credit: Braeden Crone at Moose Jaw, SK. Field went over 80 bus per acre on 3 inches of total rainfall.
CDC Fraser – taken around August 20, 2020. Photo credit: Braeden Crone at Moose Jaw, SK. Field went over 80 bus per acre on 3 inches of total rainfall.
Namao Demo – August 20