The first truck full of barley arrived at Briess’ Ralston station Tuesday, July 22 from the southeastern part of the basin, near Worland.

The cool, damp spring the Big Horn Basin has experienced this year is good for the crop, said Judy Gillett, grower relationship manager for Briess Malt & Ingredients Co. in Ralston.

“Barley really thrives with the cooler temperatures and the moisture,” Gillett said. “So It’s been a good year for the barley crop as far as weather [relates to it].”

The load that came in from the Worland area had “very good quality,” she said — quality tests are run on test weight, if the barley is plump and thin, protein content, moisture and visual inspection.

This comes down to things like crop rotation and water supply. Rotating crops like sugar beets, dry beans and alfalfa can be beneficial for the barley by breaking down disease in the soil, Gillett told the Tribune in a previous story.

Thanks to the Buffalo Bill Reservoir, growers can rely on having water for crop production year after year. Outside of Buffalo Bill, Boysen Reservoir and the Yellowstone and Clarks Fork rivers tend to receive enough mountain runoff to supply the barley. 

Briess should be able to fulfill their needs for this year, Gillett said, with yields similar to last year if not slightly higher than average. 

Nationwide, barley producers saw 1.875 million acres of barley harvested in 2024, with 76.7 bushels being the average yield per acre, the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center said. Total U.S. production was 143.8 million bushels. 

Briess supplies both the food and craft brewing industry and within the community feed barley (malt that doesn’t meet specs) stays local.

Everything that is up to snuff is shipped to Wisconsin where it is sold to breweries (like WYOld West in Powell) and food product industries.

“The Big Horn Basin really, honestly, grows some of the best barley in the world,” Gillett said, adding, “If we don’t have weather events, we generally have very high quality very consistently.”