Barley is a very important grain in the world today and it ranks the fourth in both quantity produced and in area of cultivation of cereal crops in the world. The annual world harvest of barley in the late century was approximately 140 million tonnes from about 55 million hectares. Barley is produced primarily as animal feed. For example, over half of the barley grown in the United States is used for livestock feed. Barley as feed has the same nutritive value as corn.