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USA MALTING BARLEY SUPPLY The American Malting Barley Association, Inc.(AMBA) exists to help ensure an adequate supply of high quality malting barley for the malting and brewing industry. Throughout the history of AMBA and its predecessors, this overall objective has been met by developing malting barley varieties with improved agronomic and quality characteristics. These improvements keep malting barley competitive with other crops so that growers continue to plant it and produce an adequate supply of malting barley of consistent and suitable quality. Improvements in yield, disease resistance, lodging resistance, and other agronomic characteristics are coupled with improvements in malting and brewing quality for improved utilization by our industry. The primary efforts of the industry in developing improved malting barley varieties in the United States have been coordinated through associations. These efforts began in 1938 with the founding of the Malt Research Institute (MRI) in Madison, Wisconsin. The MRI served as a coordinating agency for the evaluation of barley varieties and selections for industrial suitability. It also funded research at the USDA-ARS Cereal Crops Research Unit (formerly the Barley and Malt Laboratory), University of Wisconsin. The MRI began its program with the evaluation of the varieties Wisconsin Barbless (Wisconsin 38) and Oderbrucker grown in 1939 under contract in Wisconsin. The Midwest Barley Improvement Association was formed in 1945 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1954 it broadened its scope to include the entire US and changed its name to the Malting Barley Improvement Association (MBIA). The primary objectives of MBIA were to increase and maintain malting barley production and to improve malting barley varieties. MBIA met these objectives by funding research at agricultural experiment stations and through an extension program with farmers. In 1959 the MRI was merged with MBIA in order to effect closer coordination of expanded research activities being sponsored by the malting and brewing industry. In the Midwest (Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota), most growers plant barley for the malting market and the acreage is dominated by six-row malting barley varieties. AMBA's major goal is the development of six-row varieties that combine desired quality with agronomics better than currently grown varieties, such Robust and Stander. AMBA is also providing support to North Dakota State University to develop two-row malting barley varieties for Midwest production and use by the domestic brewing industry and the malt export market. In the West (California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming), the primary market for barley is the feed industry and over half the acreage is seeded to feed varieties. AMBA's objectives in the West are the development of improved malting two-row and six-row varieties that will displace feed barley acreage. AMBA also maintains modest support of winter malting barley varietal development, primarily at Oregon State University. Significant progress has been realized in the improvement of malting barley varieties as a result of the collaborative efforts of state and federal research facilities and the malting and brewing industry. From 1959 to the present, acreage in the Midwest has been dominated by six-rowed malting varieties of the Manchurian type. Two-rowed varieties are also grown. Malting barley acreage in the West continues to be a mixture of six-rowed and two-rowed types, with the two-rowed types dominating. Early in the period from 1959 to the present, two-rowed barley were introduced from Europe and six-rowed barleys were of the Coast type or varieties originally developed for the Midwest. Current two-rowed acreage is seeded to better adapted types released in the US and Canada. Most six-rowed acreage in the West is now seeded to the Midwest varieties and some western bred six-rowed barleys.
AMBA, a nonprofit trade association was formed in 1982 and became operational in early 1983 when its predecessor organization, MBIA was dissolved. The following companies are members of AMBA.
Membership Information info@AMBAinc.org
740 N. Plankinton Ave, Suite 830, Milwaukee, WI 53203 Ph: 414 272-4640
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