Briess Malt & Ingredients Co. acquired a barley storage and processing facility in Ralston, Wyoming, and a seed plant in Powell, Wyoming, from Riverland Ag Corp. The facilities and local grower network secure a consistent source of top quality 2-Row malting barley from this region for the Briess barley procurement program.
The Ralston Elevator has a 2.3 million bushel storage capacity and is located along the Burlington Northern railroad. It handles locally sourced, irrigated barley grown in the Wyoming-Southern Montana Barley Production Region. The nearby Powell Seed Plant has capacity to process, certify and store 100,000 bushels of barley seed annually.
"We are delighted to be securing a long-term supply of malting barley grown in one of the top barley growing regions in America," said Gordon Lane, president of Briess Malt & Ingredients Co. The region is distinguished by flood irrigation and a group of experienced, dedicated barley growers.
Briess Director of Malting Operations Dave Kuske added that Briess has been sourcing barley from this region for some time. One of the company's newest malt releases, Goldpils Vienna Malt, was developed from barley grown in the region, he explained.
The region is closely aligned with the Briess sustainability initiative, Lane continued. A gravity irrigation project in the surrounding mountains assures a constant source of water to the region. In addition, hydroelectric power produced by the project is fed into the grid system serving three states.
