Over the coming months we will be featuring organizations and associations in North America that helps and works with farmers. This week, we sat down with the Barley Council of Canada.
What is Barley Council of Canada (BCC) and what is the role BCC plays in Canadian Ag? The Barley Council of Canada’s role is to be the leader and coordinator for the barley industry – coordinating all links in the value chain, national approach. The BCC is designed to be the voice for barley farmers and barley industry members. Our leadership team is comprised of industry representatives and barley farmers, and we focus on these five main priorities:
- innovation and research
- promoting best crop production services
- supporting market development
- increasing market access
- improving understanding and communications within the barley value chain
Each sector of the barley value chain—producers, processors, feeders, malt companies or researchers—has its own ideas about the barley industry and how to make it strong. It is this combination of the diverse perspectives within the industry that gives Canadian barley the exclusive representation it deserves.
We act as the leader and coordinator for the barley industry (coordinating all links in the value chain, national approach). Barley is a unique crop with distinct qualities and market needs. Barley now has a champion—each end-use needs this council’s undivided attention to sustain quality, market demand and long-term profitability.
Can farmers participate? How can farmers benefit from participating? We represent the entire barley value chain, from producer right through to processor and end-user. This is the first time in history the entire value chain has been brought together from coast to coast on a board of directors.
Farmers are encouraged to participate by volunteering their
time to their provincial commissions (Alberta Barley, B.C. Grain Producers Association, Sask Barley, Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association, Atlantic Grains Council, Fédération des producers de cultures commerciales du Quebec) as a director or delegate—they
can then provide a crucial voice at the national level. By participating in your provincial commissions you are providing a voice to the BCC table. We need your voice at the provincial level in order to make change or progress at the national level.
The other thing farmers can do is help us to educate other barley growers about how the barley industry is progressing, what opportunities there are in growing barley and agronomic tips to grow and market a profitable crop. They can go to BarleyCanada.com to gain information, they can also sign up for our newsletter by emailing Caitlan Carver at [email protected]
Do you have any education or public outreach initiatives? How can the community help?
We actively give back to our communities and are involved in national campaigns that support agriculture across Canada. We believe that philanthropy builds sustainability in agriculture. Our team participates in multiple charitable events throughout the year. Our current project that we are supporting is Bees Matter. Let’s build the future for Canada’s agriculture community!
What are you most excited about at the moment?We will soon be launching a campaign called, GrowBarley.This will be a site and campaign to raise awareness of successful agronomic practices that will support farmers with their barley crops. We are currently gathering production and marketing information from across the country from all sectors and regions.
This information, for the first time ever for barley, will be available online in one place where growers can find the answers from agronomic production to market and profitability questions.
Follow Barley Council Canada on Twitter!