Barley prices set to rise.

[wide eyed and legless]

So barley prices set to go up due to global warming it's time to let the GM boffins start playing around with barley, wheat they have done a brilliant job, some places that couldn't even grow wheat are now getting 2 crops a year, and it takes around 10 years to GM a species so it would be an ideal time to start on barley.

 

[DU99]

any excuse

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Not an excuse, fair dinkum, our barley (brewers) depends on the right amount of nitrogen the farmer puts into the soil, to much and it is stock feed. If they can GM barley I would assume they can cover all the bases, (hopefully) to produce a good quality malting barley.
https://www.brewsnews.com.au/2018/08/24/drought-and-soaring-grain-prices-an-industry-perspective/

 

[JDW81]

I though climate change was a NASA conspiracy?

 

[wide eyed and legless]

No, Carl Sagan started it. God bless him.

 

[MHB]

So barley prices set to go up due to global warming it's time to let the GM boffins start playing around with barley, wheat they have done a brilliant job, some places that couldn't even grow wheat are now getting 2 crops a year, and it takes around 10 years to GM a species so it would be an ideal time to start on barley.

I'm not denying the effects of global warming, nor the potential benefits of GM (nor the potential risks), what makes me think you're being a bit of a dick the blithe causal connection between barley prices and planning the future.
If you were in the least aware of the commercial realities you would know the cost of barley isn't anywhere near as important a contributor to the cost of making beer as say Excise, Energy, Water/Waste disposal, Labour, Plant Amortization... Truth is Malt doesn't make the top 5 costs, barely into the top 10.
If you want to save money in a brewery there are smarter ways than agitating for GM that might pay off in a decade, things like energy and water savings, smarter disposal waste, CO2 recycling...

GM will I am sure be a part of all our futures, for good or ill, I think its important that we look at the possibilities carefully and thoughtfully - not just some knee jerk reflex, based on what looks like a BS excuse!
Mark

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I'm not denying the effects of global warming, nor the potential benefits of GM (nor the potential risks), what makes me think you're being a bit of a dick the blithe causal connection between barley prices and planning the future.
If you were in the least aware of the commercial realities you would know the cost of barley isn't anywhere near as important a contributor to the cost of making beer as say Excise, Energy, Water/Waste disposal, Labour, Plant Amortization... Truth is Malt doesn't make the top 5 costs, barely into the top 10.
If you want to save money in a brewery there are smarter ways than agitating for GM that might pay off in a decade, things like energy and water savings, smarter disposal waste, CO2 recycling...

GM will I am sure be a part of all our futures, for good or ill, I think its important that we look at the possibilities carefully and thoughtfully - not just some knee jerk reflex, based on what looks like a BS excuse!
Mark

Commercial realities are no concern of mine, I pay no excise on the beer I make, I pay no energy costs to the beer I make, being energy self sufficient through solar panels, what I do pay for are ingredients, bottles, kegs and casks are reusable no extra costs there.
As far as I am aware there are NO potential risks with GM crops, though plenty of benefits, with an ever growing population on this planet the future will be in GM crops.
But back on topic there is growing concern about the future of barley harvests, world wide, easy to call bullshit, but I would like to be shown it is bullshit, just to put my mind at ease.

 

[MHB]

Well they should be - even if just because its large commercial interests that will be funding the research you say you want.
Just looking at malt pricing, Barley is about 20% of the cost of malt, nearly all the rest is water/waste/energy...
Plenty of other ways to improve the bottom line other than a spurious argument about GM.

I'm not even against GM, it will I believe be important to all our futures just make a sensible argument, look at the pros and cons, and be aware that the ability to manipulate genes can be abused (even weaponised). Name any field of endeavour that cant be abused.
Personally I would be just as happy to see people GM'ed so they produce far fewer children, could put up a pretty fair argument that there are way too many of them.
Mark

 

[Redreuben]

My biggest issue with gm isn’t the technology it’s the people using it.
I’d rather see better landcare and management then just reaching for a technology that can eke out the last remaining usefulness of degraded land.
Industrial broad scale agriculture is little more than agriponics now, everything is added in the “soil” is just somewhere to put the seed.
Yeah I know, nobody cares as long the cheap food keeps flowing so we can afford to throw 40% in the bin.
Rant over.
In case your wondering I describe myself as a right wing greenie. Make of that what you will.
Old saying.
“Men get wisdom when they have exhausted all the alternatives”

 

[laxation]

My biggest issue with gm isn’t the technology it’s the people using it.
I’d rather see better landcare and management then just reaching for a technology that can eke out the last remaining usefulness of degraded land

pretty sure that isn't at all how it works, and without gm foods we'd all essentially starve. if not now, then in the not too distant future

GM hops could be interesting... apparently it takes like 10 years to breed a new kind of hop, because of trying to find the right flavour/aroma but one that also grows fast enough and doesnt get destroyed by pests - with gm hops we could have a MASSIVE variety of experimental stuff to pick from

 

[JDW81]

I’d rather see better landcare and management then just reaching for a technology that can eke out the last remaining usefulness of degraded land.
Industrial broad scale agriculture is little more than agriponics now, everything is added in the “soil” is just somewhere to put the seed.

Yeah, that's the ideal, however Monsanto et al don't make any money out of better land management.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Gm foods is not always about money, it is about crops which can sustain in a harsh environment, less pesticides, helping the 3rd world to grow their own food. But the other thing is if the crops of barley are not giving a good enough return, whats to stop the farmers turning to a more profitable crop? There are plenty of other crops which can give the farmers a higher return for their endeavors, I was reading recently that a Japanese brewery has start using peas in the beer to cut down on the import tariff of the barley.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.co...global-beer-shortage/articleshow/66235272.cms

https://www.producer.com/2004/04/japanese-pea-beer-opens-new-market/

 

[Redreuben]

Well that was interesting especially the bit about not using soy because of gm.

 

[Markbeer]

The problems the world has isn't GM, available land, resources etc.

It's a people problem.

Google Ethiopia population, a good example. No point producing more grain, the population continues growing exponentially feeding from that grain etc.

Must be too tiresome for them to pull out. Sounds crude, but that's really all it is.

 

[Sidney Harbour-Bridge]

No, Carl Sagan started it. God bless him.

Actually Marget Thatcher started in her effort to demonize coal and close the British coal mines, which she was quite successful at, Australia is only picking it up now, 30+ years on.

 

[Sidney Harbour-Bridge]

Personally I would be just as happy to see people GM'ed so they produce far fewer children, could put up a pretty fair argument that there are way too many of them.
Mark

So are you happy to remove yourself from the problem?

 

[Sidney Harbour-Bridge]

I was reading recently that a Japanese brewery has start using peas in the beer to cut down on the import tariff of the barley.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.co...global-beer-shortage/articleshow/66235272.cms

https://www.producer.com/2004/04/japanese-pea-beer-opens-new-market/

Yep that's why we use rice, corn oats and barley grains in various beers.

 

[Sidney Harbour-Bridge]

Well that was interesting especially the bit about not using soy because of gm.

Soy is the most useless shit in the world, unless you want to grow breasts.

 

[Sidney Harbour-Bridge]

The problems the world has isn't GM, available land, resources etc.

It's a people problem.

Google Ethiopia population, a good example. No point producing more grain, the population continues growing exponentially feeding from that grain etc.

Must be too tiresome for them to pull out. Sounds crude, but that's really all it is.

No it's a greed problem, the earth grows enough food to feed everyone but we throw it away and don't distribute it where it is needed. By the way I am not a socialist or a greeny

 

[Sidney Harbour-Bridge]

Oh I seem to have made a lot of posts on this thread. Sorry I have just tapped my latest ordinary bitter which is far from ordinary.

And for just the record, Thomas Tallis bore no man malice, except an organist called Ken, who played his music badly, now and then.

I think I will retire now.