If you didn’t have a chance to hear from Whitney, Origin Malt’s Director of Procurement during our 4th Friday-Instagram LIVE Happy Hour event– Here is the latest and greatest on the progress of Crop 2020!
Crop 2020 is looking mighty fine as we head into some of the final critical stages before harvest. Growers have been actively scouting fields and keeping an eye on plant development and health. In most of our US barley region, the plants are pollinated, embryos are filling the spikelets and starting to ripen. With the recent heavy rains and a lovely spring frost/freeze a few weeks back, its always critical to stay up to date with how the plants are developing, responding, and recovering. As our barley breeder, Dr. Eric Stockinger has stated before, “barley never ceases to amaze me.” This year is proving true to that statement again. We’re hopeful that mother nature will keep major concerns at bay until the barley is in the bin.
Speaking of barley in the bin, if growers haven’t prepped their harvest equipment—now is the time! As we near these final weeks leading up to harvest (less than 30 days in the south!) we are reviewing our harvest procedures and quality sampling with all growers to ensure we have representative samples of their fields. Representative sampling is a crucial quality checkpoint to determine the overall quality of a grower’s harvest.
We will be continuing #Crop2020 updates through harvest so stay tuned!
In the meantime– (for all our barley nerds out there) check out the progress shots below!
above is a picture of Feekes stage 10.1, the awns are visible and heads are emerging.
above is a picture of Feekes stage 10.3, heading is half complete at this stage.
above is a picture of Feekes stage 10.5, Heading is complete with flowering starting soon.
