A new Canadian Wheat Board program is designed to improve the image of Canadian winter wheat.
Beginning this year, the board will offer a small pilot contract program to gather supplies of newer, higher-protein winter wheat varieties to use in a market development plan.
Winter Cereals Canada and the Alberta Winter Wheat Producers Commission have argued for such a program for a while.
“If you look at the pricing of winter wheat over the last 15 years, at one point it was priced somewhere at the mid point between No. 2 and 3 hard red spring wheat. More recently it has been … closer to the No. 3 price and only had a slight advantage over CPS (Canada Prairie Spring),” said David Struthers, executive director of Winter Cereals Canada.
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Patty Rosher, market development program manager with the CWB, said the problem has been the growing dominance of varieties in the class that have good agronomics but poor milling and baking properties. Customers do not ask for it, so the board tends to blend it with other wheat in lower quality shipments.
“So the result is that the pool return is fairly low,” she said.
To address the industry’s desire for better marketing, a board and industry committee identified several varieties with better quality to be included in a market testing program, expected to generate 5,000-10,000 tonnes in its first year.
“We’ll be asking customers to take a look at it again. There are some new varieties that do have the milling and baking characteristics that customers are looking for,” said Rosher.
This year the eligible varieties are AC Bellatrix, AC Readymade, AC Tempest, CDC Osprey and Northstar.
Participating farmers will get a $2.50-a-tonne premium, plus escalating storage payments.
The program requires a minimum protein content of 11.5 percent. Also, beginning next year the board will pay on a sliding scale for protein in winter wheat, just as it does with spring wheat.
Struthers is happy about the program, but said most of the eligible varieties are agronomically suited for southern Alberta where winter hardiness is less of a concern. They are not suited for eastern Saskatchewan and Manitoba where the largest winter wheat acreage is located.
However, three newly registered varieties, including two well adapted to the eastern Prairies, will be added to the market development program once seed is available.
Interested growers must sign up by Sept. 21. Forms are available from seed growers who have eligible varieties and from the board. In July 2002, the board will send a special delivery contract to participating farmers. To better co-ordinate delivery in this small volume program, the board will identify delivery points.
