Frieday April 23, 2:21 am Eastern Time
Better Barley Test May Cost Farmers
By BRIAN WITTE
Associated Press Writer
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- A test used to gauge the malting quality of barley for beer ''has
substantial variability,'' and its outcome determines whether farmers reap the premium price or a
substantial discount on their crops, a government report concludes.
The report by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, examined the consistency of a test kit used in
most of North Dakota to determine vomitoxin levels in barley.
Vomitoxin, which can affect the taste of beer, is a byproduct of a crop disease known as scab. It has plagued North Dakota's
wheat and barley crop for the past six years. North Dakota has been the nation's leading barley producer for the past 50
years.
''The market ... is making crucial pricing decisions at concentration levels where the (test) kit has substantial variability,'' the
GAO report said.
Testing experts attribute variability to the skills of the technicians conducting the tests and stress the importance of training,
the report said. Two other tests give more accurate and consistent results, but complexity and expense of the tests preclude
using them at commercial testing facilities where farmers bring their barley, the report said.
In 1997, the American Malting Barley Council said that only 9 percent of all Midwestern malting barley had a vomitoxin
level that fell into the premium price category of 0.5 parts per million or less, according to the report. The council is made up
of Anheuser-Busch, Inc., the Miller Brewing Company, the Coors Brewing Company and the Stroh Brewery Company, which
together constitute about 86 percent of the U.S. beer market.
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who asked for the GAO report, said the brewing industry has ''exacerbated the problem'' by
using its economic clout to impose its will on producers. He said the industry has ''dramatically injured farmers'' and that
testing must be standardized.
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TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) -- With corn and soybean prices still lagging, some Ohio farmers would like to see commercial hemp
production legalized to give them another way to make money.
Hemp is the non-hallucinogenic cousin of marijuana and can be used in cosmetics, beer, plastics and paper, supporters say.
''Everyone thinks you're talking wacky tobacky, and it's not the same thing at all,'' said Joe Hertel, a farmer in northwest
Ohio's Van Wert County.
Hemp -- used for oil and protein products as well as for fiber -- is grown in more than 20 countries for a variety of products,
including salad dressing, face cream, rope and clothes.
Montana and Virginia have urged an end to a federal ban on industrial uses of hemp, and the Minnesota Senate last month
passed a bill aimed at permitting experimental hemp production. The Hawaii House has approved a 10-acre test crop.
But there is little support for legalizing hemp production in Ohio among the state's elected leaders.
The Drug Enforcement Administration and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy have said that permitting
hemp farming would send the wrong signal to young people. They also worry that marijuana farmers could hide their crops
with industrial hemp plants. Police rely on pictures taken from aircraft to detect marijuana fields.
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