Memorandum to the Docket - Notes from Call with Wade Thomason from United States Department of Agriculture Extension at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Date of Conversation: May 26[th], 2011

  Double-Cropping Winter Barley
 Winter barley is almost always double-cropped with soybeans
 Barley is grown October to June - soybeans would be planted the next day in small grain stubble
 Most common system--3 crops in 2 years
 barley (October to June), soy (June to November), then the next rotation would either be cover crop or fallow, then corn the following year, then barley again
 What are the main factors dictating a farmer's decision to plant winter barley? 
 Profitability -- growers think of barley and wheat as winter crops in combination with soybeans
 Optimum soybean yields occur with full season (not double cropped); in double-cropping system, barley is harvested June 10-15 whereas wheat is harvested a bit later.  So soy can be planted earlier when double-cropped with barley, thus higher soy yield
 Winter barley in Mid-Atlantic and Southeast goes almost strictly to animal feed -- pigs and poultry are the largest
 Barley is a very common cover crop (grows well without a lot of inputs)
 Is winter barley primarily grown on land that would otherwise remain fallow if winter barley wasn't planted? 
 Increase in barley acres leads to decrease in full year soybean - probably not displacing wheat
 Barley is planted and harvested earlier than wheat
 Is wheat more valuable than barley? Yes, human consumption market
 They don't grow any spring barley in the Mid Atlantic or Southeast
 Spring barley isn't double cropped -- spring barley is spring planted and summer harvested, therefore uses most of the growing season (western regions have a 3-4 monoth growing season -- rest of the time is left fallow, not cropped with another cash crop)

2. Barley market
 Is there a difference in the markets for spring and winter barley?
 Not so much difference; the main distinction is between feed barley and malt barley. Most barley in the west is intended for malting industry (much higher value than feed barley)
 A fair portion of malt barley grown for that purpose doesn't meet malting standards and goes towards feed
 Most of the good malt barley is spring (but there could be trend toward increasing winter barley varieties suitable for malting)
