Barley breeding at the University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota barley breeding program develops new cultivars of spring barley, winter barley and hulless barley suited to Minnesota and the Upper Midwest.

With the boom of the craft brewing industry in the last decade, spring barley breeding now focuses on 2-row malting barley. All new varieties are being developed to meet the American Malting Barley Association (AMBA) quality standards.

Breeding efforts also include winter barley and hulless barley to expand options for farmers. Winter barley has the potential to provide benefits to both growers and the environment and is one of the crops being developed as part of the University of Minnesota’s Forever Green Initiative to create continuous cover cropping systems. Hulless or “naked” barley is utilized in food, feed, and biofuel. These multiple uses for hulless barley could provide growers more options for marketing their grain.

University of Minnesota barley varieties