2026 Barley Variety Options and Barley Agronomy

5-10 years ago we may have grown 2-3 barley varieties because there was not a lot of differentiation in varieties. Now we offer 4 times the varieties, some that do better with moisture, some that do better with dry conditions, and others best for green feed/grain flex use and malt options. Silage can work with any of the varieties we have, so pick the one for your moisture and farming style.

When it comes to what varieties not to grow - anything we don't sell 😁😉! That is why our line up is so wide, we only sell what we see as a fit for our customers. 
We only remove varieties from our lineup when a new replacement is good enough to beat the old ones in all aspects (disease, yield, standability). We have diversified our portfolio of barley so we have something for every customer!

Barley Medium to Good Moisture Situations
European bred varieties do well under medium to good moisture and stand well. They can work well for grain or silage. They do risk lower bu weights if they get dry late season.
Esma - VUA on farm save seed
SY Stanza - Can farm save one year off Certified on the same amount of acres. SY Stanza won last years demo, it is registered as a malt, but most are using for a feed (If you liked Sirish this is its replacement in our lineup)

Barley Dryland:
The top dryland variety where you are in the mid to low moisture situations:
CDC Durango - many customers saying it beat their CDC Austenson and other 2 row feed varieties.
AAC Synergy Malt barley is often grown on dryland.  To have malt insurance coverage (in AB if you sign a malt contract) it is often used for feed,  due to good bu weight. 

Barley Malt:
One variety we missed in our demo plots was AAC Synergy malt barley, some grow for malt but many grow for feed under dry conditions since it seems to do well and maintain bu weight.
Bill Coors 100 was also good, (some customers had similar yields to their Esma)
SY Stanza is registered as a malt (also a non GN) but most of our customer will use it as a feed or forage.
AAC Synergy malt barley is often grown on dryland to have malt insurance coverage (in AB if you sign a malt contract) it is often used for feed due to good bu weight. 

Barley 2 Row Grain or Forage Flex 
CDC Renegade is our 2 row smooth awn forage or grain flex variety. It's taller and can lay down more vs. our other varieties, but is a better choice vs. CDC Cowboy and CDC Maverick

Barley 6 Row Grain or Forage Flex 
AB Fortify (Sold Out for 2026) is new this season, replacing AB Tofield. AB Fortify is a super smooth awn with improved yields and our 6 row choice for 2026. We did have some lodging in our demo plots that impacted the grain yield of this variety. 
If needed we can fall back on AB Tofield for additional sales.

Barley Agronomy
Sales of barley seem to be higher the past 5 years vs,  in the past for us vs. wheat. It can speed up harvest, provide quick cash flow, and have different disease and quality risks. Southern Alberta  seems to sell mainly for feed with a little bit of malt opportunity, and other areas seem to do well with malt or the fair average quality malt programs at elevators.

Generally we apply about 20% less fertility with barley vs wheat crops and always do a PGR

2025 Grain Demo Results: https://www.stampseeds.com/spring-cereals-grain-trials.html
2025 Forage Demo Results: https://www.stampseeds.com/spring-cereals-forage-trials.html

Barley Irrigation Agronomy:
We use 30 plants per sq foot with a PGR applied. We find Moddus has more impact on barley vs manipulator but it is variety dependant as well.

For European and American bred varieties we see more tilling so usually reduce the use rates to 20 - 25 plants per sq foot for irrigation.

Dryland:
This can vary drastically by area and farm management style. Very dry areas often use 15-20 plants per sq foot. Medium dryland areas often use 20-25 plants per square foot.

Unique Ideas Around Barley and Agronomy

• We have some customers harvesting fall rye at boot to early heading stage late May or Early June, and seeding barley for a grain crop. They do need to ensure the rye is killed, and the silage tracks are not a problem so tillage is often used. The rye may also need to be sprayed before the tillage so that none comes though as single rye plants are prone to ergot due to no other rye to pollinate with.
  • By late June people switch to oats for forage as the oats can take the summer heat when small better.
• Some are seeding barley very early so they can grow a bio-fumigant, pulse crop to fix N, or forage blend, or fall crop.
• Fall crops after a barley can also work as barley does not volunteer very much/over winter well in the fall crop. Watch out for barley volunteer regrowth crowding out the fall crop you seed, so ensure the volunteer barley can be killed around your fall crop seeding.
• Smut in barley can be a problem. Some seed treatment brands are better than others on barley smuts. Anyone seeding without a proper treatment is taking a big risk in my opinion, it may work without treat sometimes but a poor crop due to smut is not great! - and biologicals are not the same as treatments.
• Off combine barley has been one of the best prices of the year a number of times in the past 10 years, (not always). But it does solve bin space, cash flow, & interest costs before the yields of other feed crops are well known that can weigh on the feed market. 
• Malt barely contracted on dryland allows you to be in the malt insurance program giving you a little more coverage even if it's one load. AAC Synergy is our go to malt variety for dryland.