[Crops 101] How To Sow & Harvest Barley

Welcome to your next "Crops 101" lesson of the Farming Simulator Academy! Barley is a beginner-friendly grain and a great crop to get started with. In this tutorial, we show you how to sow, care for, harvest, and use it.

What Is Special About Barley?

• Barley is easy to grow and uses common field equipment.
• You can use barley as feed for pigs and chickens.
• When harvesting barley, you can produce straw as an additional by-product.
• Straw is used for TMR which is fed to cows and as bedding in compatible barns for manure production.
• The combine harvester and grain header used for barley can also harvest several other grain crops.

What You Need For Barley

Barley requires standard field machinery, so you may already own most of what you need. The equipment shown above takes you through the complete growing cycle.

• Tractor: Operates the tools required for preparing the field, sowing, and taking care of the crop.
• Cultivator: Prepares the soil before sowing. Use a plow instead if the field information tells you that plowing is required.
• Seeder: Sows barley and needs to be filled with seeds.
• Roller: Optional after sowing for a small additional yield bonus.
• Fertilizer spreader: Applies solid fertilizer and, depending on the model, lime.
• Hoe: Helps remove weeds before they cause a yield penalty.
• Harvester with a grain header: Harvests fully grown barley.
• Trailer: Transports the harvested barley to storage, a selling point, or production.

Let's Get To Work!

With seasonal growth enabled, sow barley in September or October.

Step 1: Applying lime

Take a look at the field information before starting. If the field needs lime, fill a compatible fertilizer spreader with lime and cover the entire area. If lime is not required, you can skip this step.

Step 2: Cultivating the field

Prepare the soil with your cultivator. Check the field information first: if plowing is required, use a plow instead. A seeder that supports direct seeding can make cultivating unnecessary.

Want to brush up on field preparation? Here's the guide.

Step 3: Sowing barley

Fill the seeder with seeds and select barley as the crop. Lower and activate the machine, then drive across the field row by row until the complete area is sown.

Not sure how seeders work? Check our seeding guide.

Step 4: Rolling the field

Rolling is optional, but it provides a small additional yield bonus. Simply lower the roller and cover the freshly sown field once.

Looking for that extra yield bonus? Learn more about rolling.

Step 5: Fertilizing

Fertilize the field to increase your yield. You can apply fertilizer twice during one crop cycle, but there needs to be a growth stage between the two applications. If there is still lime in your fertilizer spreader, unload it before filling the machine with fertilizer.

Tip! If you use manure or slurry, activate the double application rate to reach full fertilization with one application.

Need more details? Read our fertilizing guide.

Step 6: Removing weeds

Take care of weeds while they are still small. A weeder can remove them early, while larger weeds require a hoe or herbicide. Dealing with them quickly is usually the cheaper option.

Tip! If crop destruction is enabled, switch to narrow tires when driving through growing barley so you don't damage your plants.

Which tool should you use against weeds? Here's the overview.

Step 7: Harvesting barley

Once the barley is ready to harvest, attach the grain header to your combine harvester. Lower and activate the header, then work your way across the field. When the grain tank fills up, unload the barley into your trailer.

If you want to collect straw as well, activate the straw swath before harvesting. Your combine will then leave rows of straw behind on the field that you can collect later.

Tip! A header trailer is optional, but it can make transporting a wide grain header on narrow roads much easier.

Step 8: Selling and using barley

Load the harvested barley into your trailer. You can sell it, store it in a suitable silo, feed it to pigs or chickens, or deliver it to a grain mill for processing. Check the prices screen before choosing where to sell your harvest.

Processing Barley: Products

Deliver barley to a grain mill to process it into flour. The flour can then be used for further production. The overview above shows the available production route.

Well Done!

Congratulations! You now know the basics of growing barley in Farming Simulator. When you're ready, continue with the next Farming Simulator Academy lesson!