QUALITY IS JOB ONE
BY IAN DOIG • PHOTO COURTESY OF BMBRI
Established in 1948, the Brewing and Malting Barley Research Institute (BMBRI) has endured and largely maintained its initial mandate to improve Canadian malting barley top to bottom. This is achieved as the organization secures research grants, conducts quality evaluation of malting barley and disseminates information on the crop.
“It’s an incredibly fun fact that we’re 78 years old,” said Gina Feist, the Saskatoon, SK-based organization’s executive director. “You just don’t hear about such longevity in member-based organizations.” Though BMBRI has greatly evolved since its launch, its ongoing emphasis on quality was initiated by the federal government’s post-war ceiling on the price of barley. Because this pushed most barley bushels into the feed market, supply chain members realized action was required to maintain quality.
“There was recognition of the importance of being engaged in the malting barley supply chain to help ensure that high-quality barley supply,” said Feist. “That long-term vision is persistent.
BMBRI members still feel that way.”
These members include crop commissions such as Alberta Grains as well as domestic and international maltsters, brewers and seed companies. “Barley is a smaller crop and there’s an understanding we need to work together,” said Feist. “It is a cereal, but it’s quite different from wheat, so we do need our independent research.”
The BMBRI technical committee embodies this full value chain collaboration. It includes representatives of member organizations as well as the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) and the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre (CMBTC). Drawing upon extensive industry expertise, the committee chooses the research projects funded by BMBRI. These focus mainly on variety development and the agronomy required to maximize the performance of these new varieties. To a lesser extent, it funds innovative malting and brewing technology.
BMBRI also engages in the activities of the Canadian Barley Research Coalition, GROW Barley and national barley clusters. On behalf of the industry, BMBRI worked with the value chain to facilitate the development of the National Barley Research Strategy. The first such initiative in more than a decade, the Strategy’s guiding document was published in fall 2013. The national framework is intended to unify research efforts and secure funding.
Initiatives undertaken with CMBTC include work by the Variety Acceptance Committee such as quality evaluation, post-registration duties and commercial testing of newer varieties. The Committee also provides guidance to farmers and seed companies on which varieties should be amplified. The two organizations also collaborated on the Canadian Barley Sustainability Initiative, which was put in place to establish baseline greenhouse gas emissions from barley production, invest in research, advance sustainability and communicate this information to the industry.
Further contributing to the variety development conveyor belt, BMBRI representatives sit on the quality evaluation team of the Prairie Recommending Committee for Oat and Barley. BMBRI conducts pre-registration variety trials at sites across the Prairies. In collaboration with CMBTC and the CGC, its members micro-malt these varieties to assess their quality performance.
“Another unique fact is that our revenue is 100 per cent membership dollars,” said Feist. “Research is super expensive and long-term, and there has been a quite an erosion of investment by the government. It’s critical that we pick the highest priorities and funnel our dollars there. Little bits and pieces everywhere will not advance the industry the way we want to.”
This tight weave of industry collaboration is a point of pride for Feist. “Maltsters and brewers who are normally competitors come together around the BMBRI board table to look at the big picture and advance the sector,” she said. “They look at the whole picture and how to better the industry.”
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