01/03/08 Is contracting in feed barley's future?

Farm and Ranch January 3, 2008 Growing malting barley under contract is common enough. Now there are even some Pacific Northwest producers raising some varieties under contract for food use for Japan. But contracting with Japan for feed barley? Tight world supplies of barley, and grains generally, have made for record high prices and a volatile market. When Idaho Barley Commission Chairman Dan Mader went on a U.S. Grains Council trip to Japan earlier in the fall, he says the Japanese were nervous about importable feed barley supplies. Mader: "I think as a end user of barley they will have to either live with that volatility or possibly come and contract some in the U.S. so they know they have it. Or maybe, ultimately in the very long range, they may have to look at allowing a transgenic barley, which would then allow us to raise the yields like they have at corn. And then they can get it at real,&you know they have been enjoying low values, break-even or below for us for years. Those are their choices and it is really up to them." Mader expects we will see more barley planted in the U.S. this coming spring. Mader: "It is sort of an auction out there. And every commodity is in the same boat. They are having to bid and we are going to see who is going to pay the highest price. But I think barley will get some added acres at these levels for sure." I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.