BARLEY Australia has announced the formation of a new Food barley classification for barley varieties which haven't met malting accreditation standards but at the same time have the quality potential to be used in the marketplace for purposes other than stock feed.
Despite the formation of the new classification, WA marketing companies have warned growers that the classification won't automatically mean there will be a market for Food barley.
The decision to create the new Food classification was brought on by the recent agreement by the Malting and Brewing Industry Barley Technical Committee (MBIBTC) to recommend to Barley Australia that the variety Hindmarsh shouldn't be awarded malting accreditation status in Australia.
Even though Hindmarsh failed to meet the standard set by MBIBTC for official malting status it had limited demand in markets and a feed classification would view it as a variety that couldn't be processed for human consumption.
Barley Australia executive manager Neil Barker said the creation of this classification was an appropriate response to a diversifying market, where customers would be offered a choice of barley qualities which were more descriptive of the purposes for which they were intended, rather than just Malt or Feed.
A number of new varieties continue to be developed specifically for Food rather than malting and this new classification would enable grain marketers and farmers to extract a potential premium where otherwise the barley would end up in the feed bin.
Hindmarsh showed potential to be a variety suitable for Shochu production in the Japanese market, which required the barley to have minimum malt classification.
A Barley Australia spokesperson said the new Food classification would allow Hindmarsh and other future varieties with unique food processing or biochemical characteristics to be recognised independently to the current malt and feed barley classifications.
"The Food classification will create opportunities for both growers and marketers to cater for these specialist markets," Mr Barker said.
Barley Australia members have agreed that these types of barley varieties will need to meet all of the other physical quality requirements which apply to accredited malting barleys such as protein, test weight, screenings and retention before they can be accepted into Food Barley segregations.
Barley Australia agreed that segregations of this type would be at the discretion of marketers and market demand but that this new classification created a segregation opportunity that otherwise would have been lost.
Agriculture and Food Department research officer Blakely Paynter said it was still too early to tell what the new segregation would really mean for WA growers of varieties such as Hindmarsh.
"It does allow the industry to do several things though," he said.
"Companies can now breed varieties for another specific target market and these markets can develop new food products like flat breads with heightened protein levels and the likes.
"A straight Food market wouldn't be huge in WA or Australia for that matter.
"We know the Australian experience and it would be nice to say that we could grow a specific amount of grain for the Food market but at this stage it's probably not going to happen."
Emerald Group WA general manager Rob Proud agreed with Mr Paynter and said he also had reservations about the classification because the malting and export industries needed to have a more cohesive approach to the amount of barley varieties being produced in WA.
"On one hand perhaps there are too many choices for growers in WA but on the other hand in no way do we want to stifle agronomic progress in the State," he said.
"But what ever happens we need to look at the marketing potential of the varieties.
"I'm not critical of the new classification, I just don't want to create a false expectation in growers that marketers will be able to miraculously find a new market for this grain."
