Farm406

farm406 24 Hannah Turner, lab manager of the MSU Malt Quality Lab, demonstrates equipment to process and test malt barley on the MSU campus in Bozeman, Mont. The lab is able to take fee-for-service samples for malt data analysis from the public, a service that will benefit Montana's agricultural community, barley farmers and associated malt barley industries. MSU Photo by Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez in the Department of Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology in the College of Agriculture. Located in the Plant Biosciences Building on the MSU campus, the lab is able to take fee-for-service samples for malt data analysis from the public, a service that will benefit Montana's agricultural community, barley farmers and associated malt barley industries, Sherman said. "The lab is an incredible asset for MSU, Montana and the industries we have here that use barley malt in products either as a central ingredient or as an additive," Sherman said. "Ultimately, the lab gives us an opportunity to select for qualities important to the market, so that we can find out faster what barley lines produce the highest quality malt." Sherman added that the lab is also conducting research to identify unique malt qualities, such as flavor and quality stability under stress. This research will complement MSU's Barley Breeding Program, Sherman said, because it allows for quality selection earlier so that MSU can improve malt quality as well as agronomic performance. The lab also provides research opportunities for graduate students in various areas and aspects of barley breeding such as the impact of field management on malt quality and genetic quality analyses. "Our goal is to introduce unique quality traits, identified by the lab, into barley varieties for Montana growers and end- users," Sherman said. "Given the hundreds of possible barley breeding crosses and thousands of barley lines, an analysis of barley malt earlier on in the process will guide us when it comes to selecting genetic traits for flavor and other qualities." Malt, or germinated cereal grain, is used in flour, cereal products, dairy products, cookies, breads and pet food and is a central ingredient in the craft brewing industry. According to the Montana Brewers Association, there are 53 licensed breweries in Montana that use more than 7 million pounds of malted grain, half of which is grown in Montana. The association estimates a collective annual economic impact of $60 million According to the United States Department of Agriculture's 2016 National Agricultural Statistics, 1 million barley acres were planted in Montana, and growers averaged 57 bushels per acre, valued in total at $270 million. Montana Wheat and Barley Committee Executive Vice President Collin Waters said the MSU Malt Quality Lab is an investment in the future of Montana's barley production. "The committee invested in the Malt Lab primarily to deliver high quality barley varieties to Montana growers in a timely fashion," Waters said. "However, the lab's capacity also allows for cooperative fundamental research and fee for service functions, which is unique. The new varieties and other discoveries which come from the lab will improve profitability of barley production in Montana." MSU Malt Quality Lab Director and MSU Research Associate Hannah Turner said the process to generate a quality analysis from a sample takes about one week. The grain is first placed into a temperature-controlled micromalting machine that can process up to 16 different lines of barley at one time. The grain is first mixed with water where it steeps for two days and begins the germination process. Turner said the goal is to elevate the grain moisture level to about 45 percent. Once there, the grain is kept for four to five days in high humidity conditions with intermittent turning to

• Cover