Gerard Neill, along with his wife, parents and uncle, has been growing malt barley near Morrin, Alta. for the past 40 years.
“We live in a great part of the province for producing malt barley through the sheer luck of where my grandfather chose to homestead,” says Neill. “Over the past 40 years, there has only been one growing season where we didn’t harvest a malt barley crop. It has been a pretty ‘bulletproof’ crop for us.”
A comprehensive rotation that includes wheat, summerfallow, barley, canola or peas, as well as the use of certified seed every three years, allows the Neills to produce a consistently high-quality malt barley crop from year to year. Malt barley is an attractive part of the rotation for the Neills, as it is a profitable crop with an annual yield averaging 80 bushels per acre.
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The Neills have grown Newdale for the past seven years.
“Newdale is a strong variety, has good straw length, and increases the odds of being able to straight cut,” says Neill.
The number of malt barley acres each year depend on whether there is a wet or dry spring, but generally account for up to 50 per cent of the available acreage.
“Due to the gumbo soil in this area, we till the ground in the spring to get the black soil to the top and to allow the soil to warm more quickly,” says Neill. “Our main challenge in growing malt is excess moisture, so we look for well-drained fields to seed the malt barley on.”
The Neills don’t employ a disease management or fungicide program. They believe that potash fertilizer makes a plumper kernel in a dry year and use a 34–17–5–0 fertilizer blend.
The Neills don’t have aeration bins, so they typically wait until the crop is at 13.5 per cent moisture before harvesting. A detailed sampling program ensures excellent detail on each truckload of grain is available for examination.
Canada Malting Co. Ltd. nominated the Neills as Elite Barley growers “because they are great farmers who enjoy farming and have pride in growing grain.
“(We) have a very good partnership,” says Darren Marson of Canada Malting. “It’s the kind of relationship I would like to have with all of my customers.”
Gerard Neill, who farms along with his wife, parents and uncle near Morrin, is one of 15 growers recognized for malt barley quality under this year’s industry-sponsored Elite Barley recognition program. Here he describes some of his techniques. Interviews with all 15 growers are available at www.elitebarley.com.
