Healthy Solutions for Food Barley Course

Recently the Northern Crops Institute hosted the Healthy Solutions for Food Barley course. This innovative online course took place over four days, with multiple live Q and A sessions and topics revolving around the food barley industry.  

Course participants had the opportunity to attend the virtual course and hear from experts in several areas of food barley production. These experts discussed barley breeding, food barley for health, baking characteristics, processing, and transportation. When asked about the goals and purpose of this new course, NCI Program Manager Nick Sinner said:

“We were trying to educate users about the healthy benefits of food barley and show the quality of the barley produced in this region. From our feedback, we feel this was a highly educational program in helping countries understand the production of food barley here in the upper Midwest.”

This course was specifically designed to walk participants through food barley in the northern region. The course kicked off with presentations on barley breeding programs at North Dakota State University and Montana State University and highlighted the work being done to produce quality food barley. After this, the course discussed food barley’s bioactivities for health and immunological benefits.

Next, course participants got to hear Robert Meyer of Dakota Specialty Milling discuss utilizing barley in bakery products. This presentation led into a discussion of barley food trends, along with current and potential market trends globally.

Finally, the course closed with a virtual tour of a barley production facility in the upper Midwest, which featured the processing facility, as well as shipping and transportation of barley fundamentals. This course provided attendees opportunities to learn from industry experts and all about the benefits of barley grown in this region. Sinner also said that the course contributed to the food barley industry as a whole “In the effort to build relationships between foreign buyers and domestic producers.”

In short, the Healthy Solutions for Food Barley course provided participants with valuable information about the food barley industry and new connections.

 For more information or to register for a Northern Crops Institute course, please click here.