Anheuser-Busch celebrates its contracted growers
On Wednesday, Anheuser-Busch in Idaho Falls had its annual “Grower Days” event to appreciate the barley growers the company works with.
“We have a saying, ‘No barley, no beer.’ So without them we’re not successful as a company,” said director of agro-operations, Glenn Nevins.
It’s no secret that Idaho is one of, if not the largest barley producer in the country.
“We rely on our growers to produce some of the finest barley in the world, and that’s why we’re here in eastern Idaho. This is one of the best regions for growing barley,” said director of western malting operations, John Drake.
Live music, a flyover, and the famous Clydesdale horses were are a part of the party. And I learned why Idaho conditions are top-tier for producing barley and creating malt.
“Well, it’s like a greenhouse. You get a dry climate, barely loves a dryer climate. You have access to water here, so you have good irrigation. And you have warm days like today — today is a beautiful day and a great day to have this event, right? But we also get cool evenings that allows that plant to give a rest period,” Nevins said.
“Yeah, the conditions are really well. We’ve got a really good crop coming on. If nothing happens to it, we’re going to have a good crop and good yields and good quality it looks like,” said Scott Brown, a barley commissioner and grower.
And the economic impact the industry has on the gem state is undeniably huge.
“Oh it’s huge and they’re solid. This is not, you know, there’s going to be a ‘go to the Midwest, we’ll go to California, we’ll go somewhere else.’ They are going to produce and buy malt barley from this area for a long time,” said Lt. Gov. Brad Little.
But no matter how big Anheuser-Busch gets, great relationships with their contracted growers are a top priority.
“We work with the best barley growers in the world, and we love our barley growers. We can’t do it without them. No barely, no beer,” Drake said.
The malt plant on Yellowstone Highway has 47 employees, and they contract with a few hundred barley growers. Anheuser-Busch ships all over the world and the facility in Idaho Falls produces 15 rail cars of finished malt on a daily basis, and about 300,000 metric tons of malt per year.
