Grainswest - Fall 2024

Fall 2024 grainswest.com 7 BY DON TSE • PHOTO COURTESY OF CANTERRA AACPrairieshowspromise Small-scale trials display benefits for the farmer, maltster and brewer CANTERRA SEEDS PARTNERED with Maker’s Malt of Rosthern, SK, and Rafter R Brewing of Maple Creek, SK, to test the performance of a new barley variety in the field, malthouse and brew- ery. Registered in 2022, AAC Prairie is touted as a successor to AC Metcalfe as it boasts an even more robust enzyme pack- age. This is desirable for multinational breweries as the adjuncts they use, such as corn and rice, lack the enzymes that break down carbohydrates into ferment- able sugars. The malt component must oversupply enzymes to compensate. “In any other crop, we use the most up-to-date genetics,” said Matt Enns, a farmer and co-founder of Maker’s Malt. “But with barley, there are industry and other end-users that have slowed down innovation.” It’s a central malting barley dilemma: farmers can’t grow new varie- ties unless maltsters will buy them, and maltsters won’t buy them unless brewers will buy the resulting malt. Brewers, however, don’t like to mess with their recipes. Consequently, Metcalfe has been a dominant variety for decades despite the development of new varieties with better specifications. Metcalfe dropped off the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Cen- tre’s (CMBTC) recommended list in 2022, and while CDC Fraser and AAC Connect have been approved as possible alterna- tives, their adoption has been slow. Maker’s Malt can produce a malt batch with a fraction of the grain required to do so by a major maltster. By partnering with the micro-maltster, Canterra can test the performance of a variety sooner in the process. This may result in earlier adoption by breweries in important ex- port markets such as China. Enns, who is also SaskBarley vice- chair, and Cody Glenn, the organization’s chair, have been contracted by Canterra to grow the variety. It performed well in 2022 and 2023 despite dry conditions, said Enns. “Prairie won our variety trial yield at 101.2 bushels per acre, which was impressive, considering we only applied 35 pounds of nitrogen and had a relative- ly dry year. In comparison, our check was Copeland, which came in at 85.8 bushels per acre.” “Prairie has a better disease package and short, strong straw,” said Charlotte Greenshields, pedigreed seed territory manager for Canterra Seeds. “It also has higher yield than Metcalfe.” Enns reported Prairie also performs very well in the malthouse. “It grows robustly and germinates rapidly,” he said. Germinating quicker than Copeland, Esma or Churchill, Enns said Prairie can reach full germination in just over three days rather than almost four days for the other varieties. “Time is money. “Prairie also won the battle for best malting characteristics. We measured this by putting in all our varieties for testing with the Canadian Malting Barley Tech- nical Centre which does micro-malting analysis. Prairie came away with the best results of the varieties we tested in 2023.” Enns then supplied the malt to Ryan Moncrief, owner and brewer at Rafter R. “I was really surprised by the outcome,” said Moncrief. He brewed two beers made with Prairie using barley grown on Enns’ and Glenn’s farms, respectively. “The malt provides a nice malt flavour. It has more character and flavour than a plain pilsner malt.” Greenshields said Prairie is still a few generations away from commercial seed certification. Analysis by the CMBTC and trials on the farm, in the malthouse and brewery all show promise. “But the proof will be in the pudding when the big guys get hold if it,” said Enns. With a robust enzyme package that is desirable for the brewer, AAC Prairie also offers the farmer an improved disease package and short, strong straw. THE FARMGATE