United States Standards for Barley

The Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) is revising the United States Standards for Barley to: modify the classification system of barley to better reflect current marketing practices by establishing two classes, Malting barley and Barley; revise procedures to permit applicants the option of requesting either the malting standards or barley standards for malting types; revise the standards for Two-rowed Malting barley by removing the ``U.S. No 1 Choice'' grade designation; amend the definition for suitable malting type to include other malting varieties used by private malting and brewing companies; revise the dockage certification procedure by reporting results in half and whole percent with a fraction less than one-half percent being disregarded; amend the definition of thins to require the use of a single sieve (5/64 x 3/4 slotted-hole) only in the class Barley; and eliminate the numerical grade restriction for badly stained and materially weathered from the standards. In addition, GIPSA is amending the breakpoint for dockage and establishing new breakpoints for malting barley to conform with standard changes. The objective of these revisions is to ensure that the barley standards are serving their intended purpose to facilitate the marketing of barley.