ARS | Publication request: MALTING BARLEY IMPROVEMENT IN THE USA; INTERACTIONS BETWEEN RESEARCHERS ANDINDUSTRY, AS REPRESENTED BY THE AMERICAN MALTING BARLEY ASSOCIATION (AMBA)

Submitted to: Australian Barley Technical Symposium Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: September 10, 1995
Publication Date: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Because malting barley lines become obsolete after being grown for several years, it is imperative that new, high quality lines be developed to replace them. Public sector (USDA and University), barley breeders and researchers work together with the American Malting Barley Association (AMBA) to develop these improved malting barleys. This paper explains how this interaction works, including the methods used for testing the quality of new barley lines and how they are added to the AMBA listing of 'recommended' malting barleys. It also explains how the US barley industry, through AMBA, informs the public sector breeders of the characteristics the barley must have to gain industry acceptance. It shows that this method has now led to the development of barley cultivars that are clearly superior to those used in the past. It also explains how, through its support of several aspects of US malting barley research, AMBA has helped to lay a foundation for further improvement, and thus increase the competitiveness of the US brewing and malting industries.

Technical Abstract: The American Malting Barley Association (AMBA) is an organization of US malting and brewing companies whose purpose is to ensure that an adequate supply of high quality malting barley is always available for the malting and brewing industries. It does this in several ways, including: 1) encouraging the development of appropriate malting barley varieties through contact with and support of barley research and breeding programs; 2) maintaining liaison with state and federal governments, grower organizations and other groups involved in developing agricultural policy and funding barley research programs; and 3) serving as a source of information about barley. One of its most important functions is granting funding to breeders and other researchers to conduct research on barley. This allows AMBA members to ensure that research being conducted is aimed at problems that are of consequence to industry and to ensure that new barley cultivars developed by breeders best meet the needs of industry. Through its interaction with the US public sector barley breeders and researchers, AMBA is the major factor determining the direction of malting barley development in the USA.