2012 NBIC Goals
The National Barley Improvement Committee represents the entire US barley industry - growers, researchers, and malting, brewing, and cereal food end-users.
Why is federal investment in barley research needed? Barley is primarily a public sector crop. Most barley variety development and research is conducted at state universities and USDA-ARS facilities. The private sector has limited interest in barley research and variety development because of its limited seed sale potential.
Barley production, and the manufacture and sale of value-added barley products (malt, beer, food, feed for livestock and fish, biofuels) have a significant impact on the US economy, supporting millions of jobs and generating billions of dollars in business activity and tax revenue for the US and state governments. The economic and tax revenue payback from modest federal investments in barley research exceeds by many orders of magnitude the expenditures.
Cover Letter and 2012 Goals...