USA: North Dakota harvested 995,000 acres of barley in 2006, the lowest acreage level in decades

The federal Agriculture Department is projecting U.S. barley production at 180 million bushels in 2006, the lowest since 1936. The agency said the nation’s farmers harvested 2.9 million acres of barley, the lowest number since 1885. The Independent record published November 12.

Barley is primarily used for malting and brewing, and for livestock feed. Less than 2 percent of the domestic crop is used as food.

North Dakota is the nation’s largest barley producing state, usually accounting for about a third of the total U.S. crop. The state’s producers say North Dakota’s climate and soil yield barley that produces higher-quality beer than barley grown in other areas of the United States.

The state harvested 995,000 acres of barley this year, the lowest level since the 1930s, said Steve Edwardson, administrator of the North Dakota Barley Council.

Drought this year in North Dakota ‘‘hurt yields a bit — but overall it was a good quality crop,’’ Edwardson said.

North Dakota produced 48.7 million bushels of barley this year. Idaho produced 42.8 million bushels, followed by Montana’s 31 million bushels, Edwardson said.

‘‘With stocks and production at record lows, we’re going to see some increased prices, and hopefully, some increased production because of it,’’ he said.

Kurt Carstens, director of the National Barley Improvement Committee, said his group works to improve both the quality and quality of the crop. The group is made up of growers, maltsters, researchers and representatives of the food industry.

Carstens, who also farms near Reardon, Washington, said he is a big barley advocate and planted the crop on most of his 2,500 acres until a few years ago. This year, barley accounted for only 5 percent of his acres. His fellow farmers in Washington followed suit, planting about 200,000 acres, the fewest in about 30 years and 15,000 acres less than a year ago.

Prices have been fetching more than $3 a bushel in recent weeks for Washington barley, much of which is shipped to Japan for livestock feed. Before this year’s harvest, the price was less than $2 a bushel.

Minnetonka, Minnesota-based Cargill has announced plans to expand its Spiritwood malt processing plant next year, and buy more barley as part of a larger Stutsman County energy project.

‘‘Farmers are in a business — we look at other crops if they are more lucrative,’’ Carstens said. ‘‘If prices come up, I’d plant barley again — but not until then.’’

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