Quality of Canadian barley in 2025

This report presents quality data and production statistics for Canadian barley in 2025. Barley samples were submitted to the Canadian Grain Commission’s Harvest Sample Program by producers and grain companies. Quality data are compiled from the results of analytical tests performed in the Grain Research Laboratory and will be updated as more samples are received.

Quality of barley selected for malting in western Canada

The results presented below are preliminary and based on samples of barley selected for malting as of October 20, 2025.

Figure 1.1  Average protein content (%, db) for barley before and after selection for malting from 2015 to 2025. Data for 2025 are preliminary.
description follows
Graph data
Protein content (%, db)
Year Barley selected for malting All barley
2015 12.4 12.5
2016 11.3 11.7
2017 11.5 11.8
2018 11.9 12.1
2019 11.5 12.0
2020 11.8 11.9
2021 13.2 13.9
2022 12.3 12.6
2023 12.3 12.6
2024 12.2 13.2
2025 11.8 11.9
Figure 1.2  Average test weight (kg/hL) for barley selected for malting from 2015 to 2025. Data for 2025 are preliminary.
description follows
Graph data
Test weight (kg/hL)
Year Test weight
2015 66.6
2016 66.5
2017 68.1
2018 69.5
2019 66.3
2020 67.2
2021 64.8
2022 66.7
2023 65.0
2024 64.7
2025 67.5
10-year average 66.6
Figure 1.3  Average 1000 kernel weight for barley selected for malting from 2015 to 2025. Data for 2025 are preliminary.
description follows
Graph data
1000 kernel weight (g)
Year 1000 kernel weight
2015 45.7
2016 46.5
2017 44.9
2018 46.7
2019 45.1
2020 45.5
2021 45.3
2022 45.0
2023 46.8
2024 44.1
2025 48.6
10-year average 45.6
Figure 1.4  Average germination energy (%, 4ml) for barley selected for malting from 2015 to 2025. Data for 2025 are preliminary.
description follows
Graph data
Germination energy (%, 4ml)
Year Germination energy
2015 97
2016 97
2017 99
2018 99
2019 98
2020 99
2021 98
2022 99
2023 98
2024 99
2025 99
10-year average 98
Figure 1.5  Average germination energy (%, 8ml) for barley selected for malting from 2015 to 2025. Data for 2025 are preliminary.
description follows
Graph data
Germination energy (%, 8ml)
Year Germination energy
2015 86
2016 90
2017 96
2018 97
2019 89
2020 95
2021 93
2022 92
2023 94
2024 95
2025 90
10-year average 92
Figure 1.6  Rapid visco analysis (RVA) results in rapid visco units (RVU) for barley selected for malting from 2023 to 2025. Sample numbers are in parentheses. Data for 2025 are preliminary.
description follows

The boxes in the graph show RVA results for the middle 50% of the data. Quartiles are represented by the areas on either side of the means (horizontal lines). Whiskers extend to the maximum and minimum values.

Risk of germination loss in storage
Risk of germination loss in storage RVA results (RVU)
Low ≥ 120
Intermediate 50 to 120
High < 50
Graph data
RVA results (RVU)
Location 2023 2024 2025
Alberta 77 83 98
Saskatchewan 53 99 82
Manitoba 79 103 53

Production statistics

Table 2.1  Area (million hectares) seeded with barley in Canada from 2025 and 2024
Location 2025Footnote a 2024 10-year averageFootnote b
Manitoba 0.125 0.126 0.153
Saskatchewan 0.912 0.936 1.119
Alberta 1.338 1.418 1.414
British Columbia 0.022 0.023 0.025
Western Canada 2.397 2.504 2.710
Canada 2.483 2.592 2.820

Table 2.1 Notes

Table 2.1 Note 1

Source: Statistics Canada, estimated as of September 2025

Return to table 2.1 note a

Table 2.1 2

10-year average from 2015 to 2024

Return to table 2.1 note b
Figure 2.1  Area (million hectares) seeded with barley in western Canada from 2015 and 2025.
description follows
Graph data
Area seeded with barley (million hectares)
Year Western Canada Alberta Saskatchewan Manitoba
2015 2.57 1.42 0.95 0.182
2016 2.58 1.38 1.00 0.168
2017 2.22 1.15 0.94 0.107
2018 2.50 1.26 1.09 0.131
2019 2.88 1.44 1.28 0.136
2020 2.94 1.48 1.26 0.168
2021 3.26 1.57 1.50 0.167
2022 2.76 1.44 1.13 0.171
2023 2.88 1.55 1.14 0.168
2024 2.50 1.42 0.94 0.126
2025Footnote 1 2.40 1.34 0.91 0.125
Table 2.2  Barley production (million tonnes) in Canada from 2025 and 2024
Location 2025Footnote a 2024 10-year averageFootnote b
Manitoba 0.481 0.512 0.561
Saskatchewan 3.074 3.035 3.396
Alberta 4.347 4.229 4.481
British Columbia 0.059 0.063 0.062
Western Canada 7.961 7.839 8.499
Canada 8.228 8.144 8.851

Table 2.2 Notes

Table 2.2 Note 1

Source: Statistics Canada, estimated as of September 2025

Return to table 2.2 note a

Table 2.2 Note 2

10-year average from 2015 to 2024

Return to table 2.2 note b
Figure 2.2  Barley production (million tonnes) in western Canada from 2015 and 2025.
description follows
Graph data
Production of barley (million tonnes)
Year Western Canada Alberta Saskatchewan Manitoba
2015 7.82 4.29 2.86 0.60
2016 8.42 4.40 3.38 0.59
2017 7.52 3.91 3.14 0.44
2018 8.00 4.00 3.44 0.50
2019 10.00 4.96 4.45 0.53
2020 10.42 5.28 4.39 0.69
2021 6.61 3.65 2.50 0.44
2022 9.67 5.38 3.55 0.66
2023 8.68 4.72 3.23 0.67
2024 7.84 4.23 3.04 0.51
2025Footnote 1 7.96 4.35 3.07 0.48
Table 2.3  Average barley yield (bushels per acre) in Canada from 2025 and 2024
Location 2025Footnote a 2024 10-year averageFootnote b
Manitoba 76.6 78.3 73.6
Saskatchewan 67.9 64.9 61.9
Alberta 68.9 60.6 67.6
British Columbia 56.5 54.7 57.3
Western Canada 68.8 63.1 65.4
Canada 68.5 63.2 65.2

Table 2.3 Notes

Table 2.3 Note 1

Source: Statistics Canada, estimated as of September 2025

Return to table 2.3 note a

Table 2.3 Note 2

10-year average from 2015 to 2024

Return to table 2.3 note b
Figure 2.3  Average barley yield (bushel per acre) in western Canada from 2015 to 2025.
description follows
Graph data
Average barley yield (bushels per acre)
Year Manitoba Saskatchewan Alberta
2015 68.8 60.7 68.3
2016 72.0 69.8 75.9
2017 80.4 66.4 71.8
2018 75.3 62.7 66.8
2019 76.9 69.3 72.4
2020 79.9 68.7 74.0
2021 54.8 35.5 47.4
2022 74.3 63.4 75.9
2023 75.4 57.4 62.9
2024 78.3 64.9 60.6
2025Footnote 1 76.6 64.9 61.9
Figure 2.4  Comparison of percentage (%) of area seeded for the top malting barley varieties in western Canada from 2019 to 2025Footnote 3.
description follows
Graph data
% of area seeded for top malting barley varieties in western Canada
Year AAC Synergy CDC Copeland Sirish AAC Connect CDC Fraser CDC Churchill AC Metcalfe
2019 19.20 44.03 0.33 2.06 0.53 no data 23.70
2020 22.54 42.44 1.58 5.19 1.67 0.02 17.66
2021 28.08 34.69 4.84 8.62 3.28 0.26 11.15
2022 28.50 31.20 7.60 9.70 3.80 0.90 9.20
2023 32.19 22.33 12.12 12.30 6.35 3.05 3.72
2024 33.60 17.36 13.97 12.25 8.11 7.12 1.53
2025 35.55 13.52 13.99 11.73 8.88 9.59 1.14
Figure 2.5  Comparison of percentage (%) of area seeded for the top general purpose and food barley varieties in western Canada from 2019 to 2025Footnote 3.
description follows
Graph data
% of area seeded for the top general purpose and food barley varieties in western Canada
Year CDC Austenson Esma Brahma Altorado CDC Maverick CDC Durango Oreana Claymore AB Prime AB Hague
2019 40.42 no data 10.91 no data 3.68 no data 2.48 2.52 no data no data
2020 42.90 no data 11.00 0.03 3.86 no data 4.10 4.69 no data no data
2021 46.10 0.27 10.63 1.11 3.49 no data 7.12 6.04 0.02 0.01
2022 41.45 2.47 9.43 2.21 4.87 no data 6.83 5.88 0.06 0.13
2023 37.95 7.38 8.04 4.62 4.67 no data 5.82 5.40 0.51 0.96
2024 31.17 11.76 7.46 6.67 5.78 0.25 4.59 3.87 1.33 1.39
2025 26.74 13.32 7.60 6.53 5.66 4.77 3.39 2.73 1.56 1.18
Figure 2.6  Comparison of percentage (%) of area seeded for the top barley varieties in western Canada from 2019 to 2025Footnote 3.
description follows
Graph data
% of area seeded for top barley varieties in western Canada
Year CDC Austenson AAC Synergy CDC Copeland Esma Sirish AAC Connect CDC Churchill CDC Fraser Brahma
2019 16.49 10.92 25.05 no data 0.19 1.17 no data 0.30 4.45
2020 18.56 12.79 24.07 0.004 0.89 2.95 no data 0.95 4.75
2021 21.65 14.89 18.40 0.13 2.56 4.57 0.14 1.74 4.99
2022 20.42 14.46 15.81 1.22 3.83 4.91 0.47 1.92 4.65
2023 18.74 16.29 11.30 3.65 6.14 6.23 1.54 3.21 3.97
2024 15.19 16.08 8.31 5.75 6.72 5.88 3.43 3.86 3.65
2025 13.12 16.41 6.24 6.53 6.46 5.42 4.43 4.1 3.73
Figure 2.7  Distribution of barley classes as a percentage of area seeded with barley in western Canada from 2020-2025.
description follows
Graph data
% of area seeded with barley
Year Malting Food General purpose Not specified
2020 53.7 2.4 38.5 5.3
2021 50.4 2.3 42.3 5.0
2022 48.2 2.4 44.3 5.1
2023 48.4 1.8 45.4 4.4
2024 47.7 1.3 47.2 3.9
2025 46.2 1.0 48.0 4.8
Figure 2.8  Distribution of barley classes in each province as a percentage of total area seeded with barley in 2025.
description follows
Graph data
% of area seeded with barley
Location Malting Food General purpose Not specified
Alberta 22.8 0.9 31.8 0.02
Saskatchewan 21 0.1 11.8 4.6
Manitoba 2 0.1 4.2 0.1

Table 2.4  Distribution of percentage (%) of area seeded for malting barley varieties in western Canada in 2025Footnote 3

Malting barley variety, 2-rowed British Columbia Alberta Saskatchewan Manitoba Western Canada
AAC Synergy 0.08 13.19 20.83 1.45 35.55
Sirish 0.25 13.41 0.33 0.00 13.99
CDC Copeland 0.08 6.86 6.49 0.10 13.52
AAC Connect 0.27 2.28 7.61 1.57 11.73
CDC Churchill 0.00 5.69 3.28 0.62 9.59
CDC Fraser 0.00 4.32 4.31 0.25 8.88
AC Metcalfe 0.04 0.51 0.55 0.05 1.14
CDC Copper 0.06 0.71 0.09 0.05 0.92
Bill Coors 100 0.00 0.75 0.00 0.00 0.75
CDC Goldstar 0.00 0.00 0.41 0.00 0.41
CDC Bow 0.00 0.27 0.00 0.00 0.27
Newdale 0.00 0.06 0.10 0.05 0.21
Bentley 0.00 0.18 0.00 0.00 0.18
SY Stanza 0.00 0.18 0.00 0.00 0.18
Cerveza 0.00 0.06 0.10 0.00 0.16
AB BrewNet 0.00 0.13 0.00 0.00 0.13
CDC Stratus 0.00 0.11 0.00 0.00 0.11
Harrington 0.00 0.02 0.07 0.00 0.09
Torbellino 0.00 0.06 0.00 0.00 0.06
AAC Prairie 0.00 0.05 0.00 0.00 0.05
AB Dram 0.00 0.05 0.00 0.00 0.05
CDC Meredith 0.00 0.04 0.00 0.00 0.04
Other 0.00 0.07 0.00 0.00 0.07
Total 2-rowed 0.78 48.99 44.18 4.13 98.07
Malting barley variety, 6-rowed British Columbia Alberta Saskatchewan Manitoba Western Canada
Legacy 0.00 0.26 1.24 0.05 1.55
Celebration 0.00 0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15
Tradition 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.08 0.08
Other 0.00 0.15 0.00 0.00 0.15
Total 6-rowed 0.00 0.41 1.29 0.22 1.93

Table 2.5  Distribution of percentage (%) of area seeded for general purpose and food barley varieties in western Canada in 2025Footnote 3

General purpose and food
barley varieties, 2-rowed		 British Columbia Alberta Saskatchewan Manitoba Western Canada
CDC Austenson 0.23 12.23 9.92 4.36 26.74
Esma 0.01 11.70 0.49 1.12 13.32
Brahma 0.08 7.38 0.14 0.00 7.60
Altorado 0.00 5.33 1.11 0.09 6.53
CDC Maverick 0.05 1.63 3.83 0.10 5.60
CDC Durango 0.00 2.12 1.98 0.67 4.77
Conlon 0.00 2.62 0.31 1.12 4.04
Oreana 0.00 3.12 0.27 0.00 3.39
Champion 0.00 2.30 0.44 0.03 2.76
Claymore 0.00 1.18 1.22 0.33 2.73
KWS Kellie 0.05 2.48 0.00 0.00 2.54
CDC Renegade 0.02 1.01 1.11 0.05 2.19
Xena 0.00 1.80 0.14 0.00 1.94
Canmore (F) 0.00 1.68 0.00 0.11 1.79
AB Prime 0.00 1.56 0.00 0.00 1.56
CDC Cowboy 0.04 0.80 0.70 0.00 1.54
CDC Coalition 0.00 1.24 0.00 0.00 1.24
AB Hague 0.00 0.83 0.36 0.00 1.18
AB Wrangler 0.01 0.70 0.15 0.00 0.86
AC Sirius 0.00 0.52 0.00 0.00 0.52
AAC Lariat 0.00 0.41 0.00 0.00 0.41
Ponoka 0.00 0.22 0.00 0.00 0.22
Other 0.00 0.58 0.09 0.00 0.74
Total 2-rowed 0.49 63.45 22.30 7.97 94.21
General purpose and food
barley varieties, 6-rowed		 British Columbia Alberta Saskatchewan Manitoba Western Canada
AB Advantage 0.01 1.09 1.43 0.22 2.75
AB Cattlelac 0.00 0.86 0.28 0.20 1.34
AB Tofield 0.00 0.29 0.07 0.00 0.35
Richer 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.30 0.30
Alston 0.00 0.19 0.00 0.00 0.19
Seebe 0.00 0.18 0.00 0.00 0.18
AB Standswell 0.00 0.11 0.00 0.00 0.11
AC Albright 0.05 0.01 0.04 0.00 0.09
Amisk 0.00 0.07 0.00 0.00 0.07
AC Rosser 0.00 0.00 0.06 0.00 0.06
Other 0.00 0.32 0.04 0.00 0.36
Total 6-rowed 0.06 3.11 1.92 0.71 5.79

Deoxynivalenol (DON) content for Harvest Sample Program barley

The results presented below are preliminary.

Table 3.1  Distribution of DON (ppm) for all grades of western Canadian barley samples received by the Harvest Sample Program as of November 3, 2025.
DON (ppm) Western Canada
(n = 135)		 British Columbia
(n = 2)		 Alberta
(n = 59)		 Saskatchewan
(n = 39)		 Manitoba
(n = 35)
Number of samples % of total Number of samples % of total Number of samples % of total Number of samples % of total Number of samples % of total
Below Limit (< 0.3) 115 85.2 1 50.0 58 98.3 34 87.2 22 62.9
0.3 to 0.5 15 11.1 1 50.0 0 0.0 5 12.8 9 25.7
0.6 to 1.0 3 2.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 8.6
1.1 to 2.0 2 1.5 0 0 1 1.7 0 0 1 2.9
2.1 to 5.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
5.1 to 6.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Above limit (> 6.0) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Table 3.2  Distribution of DON (ppm) for all grades of barley samples from eastern Canada received by the Harvest Sample Program as of October 20, 2025.
DON (ppm) Eastern Canada
(n = 17)		 Ontario
(n = 4)		 Quebec
(n = 4)		 New Brunswick
(n = 3)		 Nova Scotia
(n = 1)		 Prince Edward Island
(n = 5)
Number of samples % of total Number of samples % of total Number of samples % of total Number of samples % of total Number of samples % of total Number of samples % of total
Below Limit (< 0.3) 12 70.6 3 75.0 1 25.0 3 100 0 0 5 100
0.3 to 0.5 1 5.9 1 25.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0.6 to 1.0 1 5.9 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 100 0 0
1.1 to 2.0 1 5.9 0 0 1 25.0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2.1 to 5.0 2 11.8 0 0 2 50.0 0 0 0 0 0 0
5.1 to 6.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Above limit (> 6.0) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0