Matt Hamill
2017
Scholar
Always learning, Matt studied business at Red Deer College, worked as an farm & agribusiness lender at ATB and RBC, and discovered a passion for malt at CMBTC’s Malt Academy. In 2017 he was awarded a Nuffield Farming Research Scholarship which allowed him to travel internationally researching best practices in the barley value chain. Matt also volunteers with the Piper Creek Optimist Club of Red Deer, Olds College Ag Lenders Workshop, & Advancing Ag’s mentorship program. Matt’s wife Sonja and son Henry are both getting more interested in malt by the day.
Best Practices in the Barley Value Chain
The rise in popularity of all-malt beers has caused shifts and created opportunities in the barley value chain. The speed at which the change has occurred has left a gap in readily available and updated information regarding the barley value chain. The objective of this report is to provide an accurate and concise analysis of the barley value chain in Western Canada as it is today, and then to identify best practices in New Zealand, Australia, the United States of America and Eastern Canada, that can be applied to competitive advantages of the barley value chain in Western Canada. Findings are sorted by stakeholders that come before the maltster (farmers, input suppliers, government), maltsters, stakeholders after the maltster (brewers & marketers), and the value chain as a whole.