Agriculture
Burgeoning beer brewers good for Michigan barley farmers
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By DANIELLE WOODWARD
Capital News Service
LANSING – Michigan-grown barley is slowly making a comeback, thanks to the state’s burgeoning craft beer industry. “The number of breweries is growing, the amount of beer they are producing is growing and the amount of barley they use is proportional to that,” said Scott Graham, executive director of the Michigan Brewers Guild. However, Graham said, “There has not been much barley production in Michigan since the mid-eighties. There is interest for it in Michigan, and I’ve been working to encourage the reemergence of that as a viable business. “I think barley could become a significant industry when you look at how much Michigan breweries are making and the fact that you can grow barley in areas that other crops aren’t grown in,” he said.