8-26 IAN State of Barley

 One of my favorite people in the world to interview is Kelly Olson who is the administrator of the Idaho Barley Commission. Kelly is always up front, doesn’t pull any punches, tells it like it is and all of the other clichés that apply to somebody who is straightforward and honest. She also is very knowledgeable. So all of that said, I called her up and asked how things were doing late into the barley growing season, particularly with an eye on the drought that has strangled a lot of our state. So how has the drought affected by barley?  “It shaved off a high end of the yield potential in Idaho for sure. We had some difficult growing conditions but we are still going to have an above average crop overall, so we are pleased about that, because we had increased plantings. But we had late frost well into the end of spring and then it turned very hot and very dry. It has definitely affected the quality and the yield potential in many of those rain fed areas. A few of those areas did get crop saving rain showers so it is not a failure across the board by any means in our dryland areas and fortunately for Idaho, 80% of our crop is irrigated and that is why malt barley is contracted in this state is that we have irrigation that pretty much guarantees a crop year in and year out.”