Breeding Multi-Use Naked Barley for Organic Systems Webinar

Barley is a versatile crop with three principal end-uses: feed, food, and malt. Organic barley is produced for all three uses and fetches a significant premium over conventional barley. Most of the barley grown in the United States has an adhering hull, but a small percentage of the barley grown is hull-less, or ‘naked’. Naked barley shows potential as a crop that can be used for food, feed, and malt. The project that this webinar focuses on is directed at discovering paths to create accepted multi-uses for organically-grown barley varieties. The goal will be most readily accomplished by plant breeders developing and releasing naked multi-use varieties with modest β-glucan levels suitable for organic production. Organic producers, processers, and consumers with strong interests in innovation, health, and sustainability stand to benefit directly from the adoption of new multi-use barley varieties. This webinar will cover research on naked barley applications for multiple end-uses and the breeding work being done to develop multi-use naked barley for organic systems.

About the Presenter

Brigid Meints is a Postdoctoral Research Associate with the Barley Breeding program at Oregon State University focusing on breeding multi-use naked barley for organic systems. She earned her MS from OSU in Crop Science with a focus in Plant Breeding & Genetics and her PhD in Crop Science at Washington State University.