USA: Coors is closing its barley elevator in Buhl, Idaho

Coors, which completed a merger with Canadian brewing giant Molson earlier this year, is closing its elevator in Buhl, Idaho. That is why malt barley grown for Coors in Idaho’s western Magic Valley will have to travel farther to market next year, Capital Press Agriculture Weekly communicated on December 23.

Contract growers in that part of the valley will have to haul their barley to the company’s remaining elevator at Burley, about 40 miles to the east.

The company has offered to pay growers a little higher price for the longer haul, but it still means a tough decision for growers like Clark Kauffman of Filer. “It poses some interesting logistics problems,” he said.

Kauffman figures the longer haul and higher price will be about a wash for him if he can find the trucks. “The first decision I guess you have to make is whether you want to deliver your barley to Burley,” he said. “If you do, you’ll figure a way to get it there. If you don’t, I guess you don’t grow Coors barley.”

Loads that are rejected at the Coors elevator in Burley because they fail to make malt grade could end up coming all the way back to the other end of the valley, Kauffman said.

The market for feed grain isn’t as good in the Burley area as it is near Buhl because of all of the large dairies, he said.

While the closure of the Buhl elevator may be an inconvenience, Kauffman is grateful that the company will continue to contract with growers. “I still think it’s a better option than them not contracting in the area,” he said.

And Kauffman remains optimistic about the malt barley industry in Idaho. “I’m still really bullish on the malt barley industry in southern and southeastern Idaho,” he said. “I’ve been in other areas of the country where they have a lot more trouble making malt grade.”

For those in the western Magic Valley who want to continue to grow for Coors, the change will likely mean using bigger trucks for next summer’s harvest or finding a lot more small farm trucks to keep the combines rolling, Kauffman said.

“That will be a disadvantage to small farmers like myself,” he said. “We’ll all just figure out a way if we want to deliver over there.” It could mean that semi-trucks with a grain bed will be in higher demand next summer. “It will probably amount to a guy having to try to find some bigger trucks,” Kauffman said. “You have to keep your combine going.”

Idaho isn’t the only place where Coors is cutting back on its barley facilities. The company is also closing its transload receiving elevator at Ralston, Wyo. “These moves are part of an overall barley supply chain network optimization project that will help Coors increase the value of its barley contracting program,” company officials said in a statement.

“Coors will continue to contract barley with growers in the Buhl and Ralston areas, but the barley will be delivered directly to the main receiving elevators in Burley, Idaho, and Worland, Wyo.” officials said.

Kauffman said he doesn’t blame Coors’s agricultural program for the Buhl closure. Those people have helped make Idaho one of the nation’s premiere growing areas for malt barley.

Earlier this year, Golden, Colo.-based Coors completed a merger with Canadian brewing giant Molson to become Molson Coors Brewing Co.

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