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Malt
Matters
by kara barnes • Photography by electric umbrella
Lorelle Selinger is the Canadian barley supply chain manager for Prairie Malt Limited (PML) and
Cargill Malt. A farm girl from Holdfast, SK, she studied agricultural economics at the University of Saskatchewan prior to working in
the Biggar and Loreburn elevators for the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. Switching gears in the late 1990s, Selinger moved to Winnipeg,
MB, and traded grain for the Canadian Wheat Board. In 2012, she started her current role at PML, commuting between Winnipeg,
Biggar, SK and Spiritwood, North Dakota.
Selinger is secretary of the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre board of directors and president of the Manitoba Master
Brewers Association. She represents the Canadian malting industry on the Canadian Grain Commission’s Western Standards Commit-
tee, and was a member of the working group that established the Barley Council of Canada. She is a strong believer that a co-operative
value chain is necessary for the success and advancement of the malt industry. At PML, a mid-size facility capable of processing more
than 100,000 tonnes of malt annually, Selinger ensures the plant has enough quality malt for the entire year, as well as oversees the
origins of Canadian barley for the Cargill plant in Spiritwood, ND. A true people person, Selinger makes certain growers are on pro-
grams that work for them and the maltster, giving brewing customers a top-notch product for their brewing needs.
GrainsWest:
What got you interested in
a career in agriculture?
Selinger:
I grew up on a mixed farm—
grain and cattle—and my dad worked for
John Deere. When I first got to university,
I thought I would be into animal nutri-
tion and veterinary medicine, but quickly
learned my interest was on the business
side of agriculture. I ended up in barley
because an opportunity came up to be
the Canadian Wheat Board barley trader,
and I worked there until this job at Cargill
Malt came up. I liked trading and the
excitement of negotiation, but at the same
time I’m a country girl and always enjoyed
working with farmers.
GW:
Can you give us an overview of
Prairie Malt Limited?
Selinger:
We take premium barley grown
in Western Canada and process it into
a product that can be used for brewing.
This requires a wide range of people from
highly educated scientists who have the
chemistry knowledge to produce the
actual malt, to people with a good under-
standing of barley and how it will react to
different things, to hands-on floor staff for
very labour-intensive physical work. Malt
production is mainly from Metcalfe barley
with smaller amounts of the Copeland and
Meredith varieties, in addition to our own
variety, PolarStar.
GW:
How are the Canadian and Ameri-
can malt markets different?
Selinger:
Overall, they are very simi-
lar. They are driven by the same kind
of demand, though the U.S. has always
been an open market environment. More
production is contract-grown in the U.S.,
though Canada is moving that way, and
nearly half of the barley acres in the
U.S. are under irrigation so variability is
much lower.
GW:
What is the malting business like
right now?
Selinger:
Overall demand for malt has
been steady over the past few years. De-
mand in North America for mainstream
beers has remained consistent or slightly
declined, but demand for craft beers has
grown, so it’s kind of balanced out for us.
Barley acres have gone down, which is a
concern, but we have a lot of very good
growers who continue to produce year
after year. There is still enough barley
grown, but it’s more difficult in years with
quality concerns. We are struggling a bit
right now with capacity and the handling
system, but so is the rest of the industry.
GW:
You mentioned the craft brewing
industry has grown in recent years. Has
this had an impact on PML?
Selinger:
It definitely has. Typically, craft
beers use higher malt content, so it’s pos-
itive in that sense and it provides another
market option. Craft brewers are looking
for smaller volumes, so they may be more
flexible, but they still have certain types of
beer they want to make so they have cer-
tain needs. A balanced portfolio of big and
small customers that want certain specs is
beneficial for us as it helps balance risk.
GW:
What’s the biggest challenge
you face?
Selinger:
Personally, it’s the ever-chang-
ing nature of the industry. Barley prices
used to be established and provided to us
as buyers by the Canadian Wheat Board.
Now we have to set the price for growers,
and without an established futures market
it has been a learning curve in how to
establish those prices. There has been
Spring
2014
grainswest.com
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