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National Barley Improvement Committee sets 2026 legislative priorities
Barley is primarily a public sector crop in the U.S., with most research and development occurring at state universities and USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS) facilities. Public sector investment in barley research is so vital due to the crop’s limited acreage, which does not attract private sector investment as other crops do. The National Barley Improvement Committee (NBIC), which represents the U.S. barley community of growers, researchers, processors, users, and allied industries, has been very successful over the years in securing funding at the federal level to ensure barley remains a robust and competitive crop.
The NBIC has released their legislative priorities for 2026, focusing their work on the newly established Resilient Barley Initiative (RBI). The RBI strengthens research capacity and collaboration to address increased resiliency of the barley crop through improved genetics and management. Environmental stressors dramatically impact the yield and quality of the barley crop leading to disruptions in supply, resulting in imported barley. The RBI delivers outcomes that lowers risk and increases profitability to growers and high-value end-user industries. A special focus is placed on the development of new winter barley varieties and management strategies to encourage adoption of this highly productive crop that can deliver great environmental benefit while enhancing profitability for farmers. The RBI is a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional collaborative research project of Agricultural Research Service (ARS) intramural and extramural university programs, involving scientists across fifteen+ states. The initiative seeks to eventually establish $8 million in annual funding and received its first $1 million in FY26.
In order for this critical research to occur, the NBIC will also be asking Congress to address the ongoing federal hiring freeze that is significantly impacting research operations. Several critical research positions remain vacant due to reduction in force efforts throughout USDA. If priority positions are not filled, resources to conduct the work may need to be reallocated where capacity exists. Barley research stakeholders, along with research partners, have assembled a list of highly critical roles that are necessary for this work to continue. The NBIC is encouraging Congress to request that the Administration address these priority positions.
Additionally, the NBIC will seek to sustain investment for the Barley Pest Initiative (BPI), which strengthens research capacity to address over twenty major insect, viral, bacterial, and fungal threats to the production of high-quality barley - improving returns to growers and meeting the needs of domestic and export end-users. The BPI is directed to develop management and genetic resistance strategies to mitigate or eliminate the economic impact of these major barley pests, keeping barley a viable option for U.S. growers, and enhancing value-added job generating enterprises in the U.S. This initiative also leverages a diverse team of researchers from ARS and university programs and is currently funded at $3.75 million annually. The ultimate goal is to raise that annual funding level to $5.3 million to fully carry out the mission of the BPI.
Additional legislative priorities that will be addressed by NBIC include sustained support for very successful previous initiatives; including the U.S. Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative and the Small Grains Genomic Initiative. Furthermore, NBIC will be calling on Congress to make additional budget increases needed to sustain work throughout the USDA that impacts barley, including the National Agricultural Statistics Service, the Economic Research Service, and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
The NBIC will be sharing these priorities with key congressional members throughout their annual fly-in March 9-11, 2026. To learn more about the Committee and additional details on their legislative priorities, visit the American Malting Barley Association website of whom provides organizational support for NBIC.
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