For every list, there’s a top and a bottom.
On this year’s list of the most popular Canada Western red spring wheat varieties, Lillian was at the top.
At the bottom was Peace, with the dreaded “T”, denoting a trace amount.
It registered zero in Manitoba and Saskatchewan and 0.1 percent in Alberta, still technically a ‘T’.
Only in British Columbia did farmers show interest, devoting 1.7 percent of their land to Peace.
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But even a last-place finisher can have good things going for it.
One of Peace’s selling points is early maturity, one day earlier than AC Barrie and Harvest, a significant advantage in the Peace River region of B.C.
It also has large kernels, good height, good resistance to lodging, and moderate resistance to bunt and leaf and stem rot. Yields are good in the Parkland and Peace River regions.
That sounds like a pretty good package, but a big drawback, especially for the eastern prairies, is its susceptibility to fusarium head blight.
Peace was developed at Agriculture Canada’s cereal research centre in Winnipeg by breeder Gavin Humphreys.
Humphreys could not be reached for comment, but Canadian Wheat Board agronomist Mike Grenier said it likely will stay near the bottom of the annual list.
“Early maturity never seems to count for much in terms of market share,” he said.
