"Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is one of the most ancient crops, and it has played a role in the human development of agriculture, civilizations, and culture and the sciences of agronomy, physiology, genetics, breeding, malting, and brewing. It is grown and/or used around the world. For many centuries, barley has fed livestock, poultry, people, and people's spirit. Barley was among the first domesticates playing an important role during the hundreds or thousands of years of human transition from hunting and gathering to agrarian lifestyle in the "Fertile Crescent" of the Near East starting at least 10,000 years ago. ... Barley is best known around the world today as a feed grain and as the premier malting and brewing grain."