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Shield Ranch barley field: Hauser Farms switches to a profitable crop that doesn't use summer water.
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Switching to malt barley means more water in the Verde River for people, fish and wildlife.
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Sinagua Malt processes the raw barley and sells the malt to craft brewers that value local farm products and flowing rivers.
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Beer drinkers quaff delicious beer, knowing that they are supporting local farmers and flowing rivers, a great combination!

Sinagua Malt is a benefit corporation located in Camp Verde, Arizona. Sinagua Malt was created to provide a market solution for declining flows in the Verde River. We provide breweries, distilleries, and homebrew-supply stores with premium Arizona malt.

From Arizona Wilderness Brewing Company

“This project is so much more than one beer. It's so much more than one brewery. It's a statement for the future saying that craft beer is an industry of progress.

When conservation and common sense mix we all get to benefit. We want to honor Sinagua Malt Co, the non profit for-the-river company, for making Arizona a better place and to focus on the resourses that matter to us all. Many thanks to the Nature Conservancy of Arizona and Hauser and Hauser Farms for making this happen as well.”

Why Barley?

Two Row Barley Shields Ranch

Among all crops grown in Arizona, small grains have relatively low water applications. Barley is planted in February in the Verde Valley - often using winter rains to germinate. As little as 3-acre feet of water is needed to produce a crop with the last water applied in late May - allowing water to stay in the river when it is most needed by fish and wildlife.