Barley checkoffs and export market development
Farm and Ranch November 19, 2009 When he looked back over his 33 years at the U.S. Grains Council, Ken Hobbie recalls it was the creation of state barley check offs in the 1980s that led to a pickup in council activities to develop export markets for barley. Hobbie, who retired from the council last Friday, says the financial support from those state check offs allowed the council to sustain a presence in the international market it didn’t have before. Hobbie: “When I look at it some of the benefits I see are with Japan we have gone from where we had none of that market when the check offs started to where we maintain a pretty healthy 3035% of the barley market in Japan, which is a controlled market today. We are making inroads in Taiwan particularly with food grade barleys. And we are beginning to see some positive things come out of Central America, Mexico, in terms of us being able to supply those markets with malt, malting barleys as a result of free trade agreements, and the elimination, and in some cases at this point, just simply the reduction in tariffs that are allowing us to be a lot more competitive in those markets.” Idaho and Washington barley growers help fund the work of the U.S. Grains Council through the Idaho Barley Commission and the Washington Grain Commission. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network. ? ?
