Late rains could be problematic for Idaho barley farmers – LocalNews8.com

ASHTON, Idaho (KIFI) – Late rains are causing concern for farmers who produce one of Idaho’s most important export products.

Although potatoes are Idaho's bread and butter, barley is the state's fifth-largest export.

For Idaho farmers like Mike Throngren, the barley harvest is no small feat.

“I ship my malting barley to Anheuser-Busch in Osgoode, and then it's shipped to the mill where it's malted. There's a lot of work involved in planting, fertilizing and watering, marketing the crop, storing the barley,” Mike Throngren said. “So that's what goes into the malthouses.”

From the seed stalks to the malthouse to the taps across the country. In 2023, Idaho farms produced 32.7% of the United States barley crop.

Throngren said: “Wheat and barley have reached record prices in recent years. And we just try to minimize our costs for equipment and do our repairs ourselves. The end goal is to make some money and provide for my family.”

But the rain in late August … could mean trouble for farmers in Idaho.

Jared Spackman, assistant professor at the University of Idaho, explains: “Many barley varieties have been bred to germinate really quickly. But with this easy germination comes the risk that the barley will germinate while still in the field.”

“It may not get enough moisture to grow like a real mast crop, but it gets enough to start converting the carbohydrates from the seed into sugars, and that's what they want to do in the malthouse, not here in the field.”

In 2015, late rains destroyed the barley crops of many farmers in Idaho and Montana.

Mike Throngren says that in 2023, several small farmers he knows were affected again and some are still on the recovery journey.

“There are some people who still have their 2023 crop that they had to sell for feed barley, which even, I mean, hurts the wallet,” said Throngren

With more rain forecast for late season, some farmers are experiencing a sense of déjà vu.

Throngren says: “Farming is a gamble, and that's why it's best not to rely on one crop. Spread your cards. That's what we do. We try to grow barley, wheat, hay and cattle. We try to rely on something to produce a yield.”