The Canadian Grain Commission has come under the gun for not moving more quickly to grade wheat on the basis of falling number.
The commission announced last fall it was setting up an industry working group to develop a plan to replace visual grading of sprouted wheat with machine-based tests to measure falling number.
If it’s determined that the technology is reliable, the commission has said it hopes to implement the plan beginning Aug. 1, 2006.
But that wasn’t enough to satisfy some members of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association at their annual convention last week. They said this should have been dealt with long ago.
Read Also
Farmers urged to be grain-safe this fall
Working around grain bins comes with risk, from farmers falling to drowning in grain: Experts have five tips to help avoid grain-related accidents this harvest.
Con Johnson, a farmer from Bracken, Sask., said he raised the same issue at the association’s convention following the frost-damaged 1992 crop and was assured it was being looked at.
“That was 14 years ago and you’re still standing there saying you’re working on it,” he told CGC assistant chief commission Terry Harasym. “I don’t think you’ve done a damn thing.”
Harasym said that’s not the case and the commission is working in co-operation with other industry players like grain handlers, the Canadian Wheat Board and producers.
He said the commission’s focus is two-fold: to find a machine that will work reliably and consistently in primary elevators and then to figure out a way to get those machines in place as quickly as possible in an organized, affordable manner.
“This will be expensive so we want to make sure any machine that does go in will do the job,” he said. “If not, everybody loses.”
In an interview later, Harasym said a half dozen machines are being tested in commercial locations across the Prairies, adding he expects a decision could be made in April whether the machines are suitable.
“Then the working group will decide on how quickly we can move forward with this,” he said.
Sprouted wheat is now graded and paid for based on visual inspection, but is priced and sold to customers on the basis of its falling number, a scientific test that measures the presence of a undesirable enzyme (alpha amylase) in the wheat.
Sometimes the visual grade overestimates the actual damage and farmers are paid less than their grain is worth.
A number of farm groups, along with the Canadian Wheat Board, have been urging the industry to move quickly to make falling number part of the grading standard to ensure shipments meet customer specifications and farmers are paid full value for their grain.
The wheat growers passed a resolution urging industry groups to work together to implement falling number grading as quickly as possible.
