Paul Schwarz, professor of plant sciences, and Richard Horsley, head of plant sciences, presented “The Past, Present and Future of Malting Barley for Craft Brewers” at the 30th Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo America March 27 in Washington, D.C. The conference is the largest industry gathering in North America and this year’s meeting brought together more than 6,400 brewing professionals. Schwarz is the malting barley cereal chemist and Horsley is the barley breeder at NDSU.

Craft brewers are defined by beer production volume as well as high percentages of malt used in brewing recipes. Average craft brewer production is about 5,000 barrels per year, less than 0.0005 percent of large multinational companies such as ABInBev. Craft beer production has increased an average of 9.8 percent per year in the last five years, and the number of craft breweries increased from eight in 1990 to more than 1,600 in 2010. Craft brewing companies range from relatively large brewers with national distribution, such as the Boston Brewing Co., which produces the Samuel Adams line of products, to smaller local brewers such as the emerging Fargo Brewing Co.

Although the nation’s roughly 2,400 craft brewers produce only 6 percent of all beer, they consume 21 percent of the malting barley, due to a greater use of malted barley, and less corn and rice in their formulations. This creates a potential new market for barley for North Dakota barley growers. Schwarz and Horsley see educational demands and opportunities increasing in step with the craft industries’ growing interest in the quality of the malting barley supply.

NDSU is recognized as one of the nation's top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.