6 GERMINATION.CA NOVEMBER 2017 WITH THE TRUDEAU government poised to fulfill its pledge to legalize mari- juana in July of 2018, questions are being raised about what this could mean for alcohol sales in Canada. Reports in recent months are predicting Canada’s beer market will take a hit when recreational marijuana becomes legally available. Is this a cause for concern for malt barley, a key ingredient in making beer? Peter Watts is the managing direc- tor of the Winnipeg-based Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre, a non-profit organization set up to provide technical assistance to the malting barley and brewing indus- tries. He’s among those in the malting barley business who don’t view legal- ized pot as a significant threat. “I believe it will have a minimal impact on malting barley production and demand for Canadian malting barley,” he says. While Watts feels it’s too early to tell what the long-term fallout of legalized cannabis on the beer indus- try might be, he thinks its impact on beer sales would have to be “pretty significant” to affect Canada’s malt- ing barley industry. That’s because it relies so heavily on exports. Similarly, Watts doesn’t anticipate there being much effect on plant breeding efforts to produce better varieties and other R&D initiatives for the crop. “In most grain products, Canada is by far and away a net exporter and that's true in the case of our malting barley, where the bulk of the produc- tion is sent to other countries, either in the form of bulk malting barley or in the form of processed malt,” he says. According to Watts, only about a sixth of malting barley grown in this country is used in Canada. Because of that, he says, a decline in domestic beer consumption would likely have a fairly limited impact on the nation’s malting barley production. Brent Johnson, a malt barley grower near Strasbourg, Sask., who’s also the vice-chair of the Saskatchewan Barley Development Commission, agrees. “If beer sales were to decline, which would require less malt, that would have an impact,” he says. “But As the legalization of marijuana approaches, Germination will follow the seed as it enters the legal marketplace. Our first question: with legalized cannabis on the horizon, what might this mean for malt barley? Mark Halsall WILLLEGALPOTSLOWDEMAND FORNEWBARLEYVARIETIES? Canada isn’t the biggest market for our malt barley — it’s only a small portion of it.” Johnson says another key consid- eration is the majority of the malting barley grown in Canada isn’t actually used to produce the malt necessary for beer production — most of it is used as feed for beef cattle and other livestock. “Only a small portion of what we grow is accepted for malt,” says Johnson, who estimates this accounts for around 20 per cent of total malt barley production. For these reasons, both Johnson and Watts believe legalized pot likely wouldn’t affect malting barley seed sales all that much, at least in the short term. Johnson believes if there was a reduction in malt uptake due to lower beer consumption in Canada, it could affect malting barley R&D down the road, although the impact likely wouldn’t be huge. “I don't see it in the short-term, though,” he says. “I haven't been shown any evidence yet that's really going to make me concerned.” Germinating malt at the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre (CMBTC) pilot malt plant in Winnipeg, Man. Photo: CMBTC