The craft brewing boom is also creating new opportunities for hop and barley growers. Since 2015, the Brewers Association, a not-for-profit group dedicated to small and independent American brewers, has supported research in public barley and hop variety development. For 2019, the group has announced 17 grants totaling $509,058 to organizations across the country.

In a media statement about the grants, Bob Pease, president and CEO, Brewers Association, noted the importance of the supply chain to members. “As the agricultural landscape weathers a number of challenges, the Brewers Association is proud to fund grants that will enhance beer production and enable a more sustainable future,” he said.

Since 2015, BA has provided more than $1.7 million in funding for 77 projects since the inception of the grant program in 2015. Funding has supported research and service grants addressing public barley and hop variety development, hop disease and hop aroma, as well as supporting affiliated national and state-level grower organizations.

One recipient, Jamie Sherman, assistant professor of plant sciences and plant pathology at Montana State University, noted that the grant will “enable the creation of barley lines with high malt quality under dryland conditions. Ultimately, the grant will increase sustainable production of barley by reducing water use. Dryland production is important to the long-term security of the barley supply chain particularly for Montana where 80% of available acres are dryland.”

Here’s a look at the 2019 recipients. You can check out the detailed list online.

Barley
• Building a Winter Malting Barley Market for the Great Plains: Partner: University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Principal: Stephen Baenziger

• Characterization of Genotype by Environment Interaction for Malting Quality in New York State: Partner: Cornell University Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics; Principal: Mark Sorrells

• Stable and Sustainable Dryland Production of High-Quality Malt Barley: Partner: Montana State University; Principal: Jamie Sherman

• Interaction Between Barley Genetics and Malt Process Impact on Flavor: Partner: Montana State University; Principal: Hannah Turner

• Winter and Spring 2-Row Malt for Conventional and Organic Systems: Partner: Montana State University; Principal: Jed Eberly

• Improving Malting Quality in Two-Rowed Barley by Reducing Grain Protein and β-Glucan Content Through Marker-Assisted Backcrossing: Partner: University of California, Davis; Principal: Alicia del Blanco

• Development of Two and Six-Rowed Winter Malt Barley Varieties for the Eastern U.S.: Partner: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Principal: Carl Griffey

• Evaluating a Multi-State Breeding Project to Produce Local Malting Barley for the Craft Brewing Industry: Partner: University of Minnesota; Principal: Kevin Smith

• The Continuing Quest for Flavor: From the Oregon Promise to the Romp of Otters (both are current barley lines): Partner: Oregon State University; Principal: Pat Hayes

• Enhancement of Winter Hardiness in Two-Rowed Barley Germplasm for the Craft Brewing Industry: Partner: University of Minnesota; Principal: Brain Steffenson

• Identifying Spring Malting Barley Varieties for the Craft Brewing Industries: Partner: North Dakota State University; Principal: Richard Horsley

• Effects of Variety by Malting Interactions on the Malt and Beer Metabolome: Partner: Colorado State University; Principal: Adam Heuberger

• Metabolomics and Genomics Analysis of the “Romp of Otters” Barley Flavor Project; Partner: Colorado State University; Principal: Adam Heuberger

Hops
• Multifaceted Impacts of Nitrogen and Sulfur Fertility on Hop Productivity, Quality, and Brewing Characteristics: Partners: US Department of Agriculture; Oregon State University; Researcher: David Gent

• Mapping Novel Loci for Powdery Mildew Resistance in Hops: Partner: University of Minnesota; Principal: Gary Muehlbauer

• Development and Application of Cost-Effective DNA-Based Markers for Hops; Partner: USDA-ARS National Clonal Germplasm Repository; Principal: Nahla V. Bassil

• Development of Thiols and Thiol Precursors in Different Hop Varieties During Hop Harvest and their Impact on Beer Flavor: Partner: Nyseos, Barth-Haas Group; Researchers: Laurent Dagan, Christina Schoenberger

Proposals for 2020 calendar year funding will be accepted from March 1, 2019 until May 31, 2019 and can be submitted at brewersassociation.org.

Source: Brewers Association, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.