Reading Time: 4 minutes Bringing people together over a beer. That’s the goal of several businesses from across central Alberta that have joined forces to create a fundraiser beer to support the Black Lives Matter movement. “Beer is a great equalizer. You can break down a lot of barriers just by sitting down and having a beer with someone,” […] Read more
Alberta companies join Black Lives Matter beer fundraiser
Olds College launches fully traceable beer
Reading Time: < 1 minute Olds College Brewery has launched Barley Trail, a traceable beer using blockchain technology and barley grown on the college’s Smart Farm. Consumers can scan a QR code on every can to learn about the complete journey the ingredients took from field to glass. The initiative used Decisive Farming’s farm management technology (My Farm Manager and […] Read more
Tam concerned over alcohol, junk food use during pandemic
Ottawa | Reuters — Canada’s top health officer on Sunday expressed concern over higher consumption of alcohol and junk food during the coronavirus epidemic, suggesting this could be a sign of worsening mental health. The total number of Canadians killed by the coronavirus edged up by 0.9 per cent to 7,773 from 7,703 on Saturday, […] Read more
With beer taps off, malt barley demand down
No significant drop in barley acres expected
MarketsFarm — Declining beer consumption due to the COVID-19 pandemic will also lead to reduced demand for the malt barley to brew it — but acreage to the crop is unlikely to see much adjustment on the Prairies. “I don’t think there’s any question — without sporting events, and festivals, and concerts – that beer […] Read more
China-Australia row to reshuffle trade in bulging barley market
Gains for Canada, other exporters won't be 'magical'
Paris | Reuters — A prohibitive Chinese import tariff on Australian barley will benefit other suppliers without changing the bleak global outlook caused by large stocks and depressed beer demand, analysts and traders said. Beijing said on Monday it would apply an 80.5 per cent tariff on Australian barley imports for the next five years, […] Read more
Is barley making a comeback?
The crop doesn’t generate a lot of excitement but that may be changing
Reading Time: 5 minutes If you stopped looking at Prairie acreage numbers two years ago, you can be forgiven for thinking barley is not the sexiest crop choice out there. Although it grabs lots of Alberta acres because of malting and feedlot demand, the barley sector is perceived to be slow to develop new varieties and tethered to inflexible […] Read more
Malt driving demand for soft white spring wheat
Soft white spring acres in Alberta have rebounded thanks to the craft beer movement
Reading Time: 5 minutes Soft white wheat acres are starting to creep up in Alberta, thanks to the burgeoning craft beer movement. “There’s been a growing market for malting soft white wheat,” said Geoff Backman, markets manager with Alberta Wheat and Barley. “It’s been driven by demand from the craft brewing industry, and that’s a nice value-added market on […] Read more
New federal standard to expand beer ingredient options
More variety in allowable ingredients and more requirements for declarations are now part of the federal rules on what can be called beer in Canada. The federal government on May 1 announced “modernized” beer standards under Canada’s Food and Drug Regulations (FDR) — the rules laying out the requirements to be met by a product […] Read more
New blockchain beer tells the farm-to-glass story
Reading Time: 3 minutes The road from field to glass is a long one for the malt barley that goes in your beer. And now you can join it on its journey, thanks to a new blockchain beer made, malted, and brewed in Alberta. “The whole idea was to track the farm-to-glass story,” said Natasha Peiskar, head brewer at […] Read more
Being open to new ideas creates opportunity
Farm family isn’t fearful of doing something different if someone is passionate about it
Reading Time: < 1 minute When Kyle Geeraert was getting his start in agriculture one of his stops was managing a grain company, where he and wife Meleah were exposed to some new malting equipment they thought had promise. Meleah happened to have some connections in the industry. She is the daughter of Spencer and Lynne Hilton and malting barley […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
