Salute to Idaho Agriculture: Winter Barley

Jerome, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — Winter barley is another variety of barley planted at the end of the harvest season instead of spring. This variety is used in many products, including feed and even malt.

Brett Wilken, from Scoular, says that there are some major advantages to growing this variety, “We typically harvest the crop as early as June 27th, then out to the middle of July, so again about two weeks ahead of winter wheat or other crops as far as grain harvest”.

An earlier harvest allows relief from a major resource that has been under scrutiny the past few years, “Because of the water savings, they typically stop applying water to the winter barley in June and then they’re not having to use that water anymore so that they can move that water from those acres over to their more profitable crops like potatoes or sugar beets.”

According to Scoular, winter barley can save up to 5.71 inches of water every year. Wilkens adds another benefit of an early harvest is the field can be used for more purposes, including grazing and bailing.

One other advantage Wilkens has noticed is that some of the yields have gone up. “This last year we actually had the first year of the program. We had some yields upwards of 240 bushels, so that really drives the economics as far as increasing barley production and making barley a more viable crop in Idaho” When compared to spring barley, it’s an increase of almost one hundred bushels.

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