Winter wheat variety CDC Falcon may be scheduled for a demotion in Western Canada, but it is still the second most popular hard red winter (HRW) variety among growers in Montana and North Dakota, says a respected winter wheat breeder from the University of Saskatchewan.
Brian Fowler, a winter cereal breeder who developed CDC Falcon, says the fact that Falcon is still being grown and marketed in the United States as a milling wheat suggests that Canadian growers are facing unnecessary restrictions on what varieties of winter wheat they can grow for milling markets.
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CDC Falcon accounted for roughly 75 percent of the winter wheat grown in Manitoba last year.
In Western Canada, it has already been designated as a generic CWRW variety as opposed to a select variety.
In 2013, it is scheduled to be demoted again, this time to the CWGP or general purpose class.
Varieties in the general purpose class are used for ethanol production or animal feed but they are not sold for milling.
The Canadian Grain Commission says Western Canada’s wheat industry decided to differentiate between generic and select winter wheat varieties
to ensure that winter wheat being sold at home and abroad was meeting the quality standards that buyers demand.
More specifically, the commission, along with the Canadian Wheat Board and the Prairie Recommending Committee for Wheat Rye and Triticale, agreed that CWRW select varieties should have protein levels of at least 11 percent as well as acceptable flour yields and relatively low flour ash values.
But Fowler argues that Falcon and some other generic CWRW varieties that are being relegated to feed and fuel markets in Canada already offer higher quality standards than many HRW milling varieties in the U.S.
Protein levels in Falcon are as high or higher than protein levels in some select CWRW varieties, according to head-to-head comparisons from pre-registration trials.
Falcon has a slightly lower flour yield than select CWRW varieties, but in the U.S., it is being sold to millers domestically and internationally and is earning premium milling prices for U.S. producers.
In fact, Fowler said Falcon is being milled in the U.S. and imported back into Canada as flour and baked goods for human consumption.
“CDC Falcon can come back into Canada as flour … yet a Canadian farmer can’t produce it for human consumption,” Fowler said. “That’s just asinine.
“I have no opposition to the Canadian Wheat Board (targeting) a little narrow slot in which they figure they can market winter wheat,” he added.
“But I do have concerns, when you look at the price of winter wheat across the border in the United States. The comparisons that I see, would indicate that the Americans are doing better, on average, in terms of their per bushel returns ….”
Fowler, who has spoken out frequently against proposed changes to CWRW classes, says imposing increasingly stringent classification and grading restrictions on Canada’s winter wheat production has placed an unnecessary strain on growers and on the industry.
Rather than relegating popular varieties such as CDC Falcon to lower- value classes, he argues that producers should have more latitude to grow varieties that offer the greatest potential returns and minimize business risk.
Even if Canada continues to impose a threshold of 11 percent protein on winter wheat destined for milling markets, Fowler says that threshold could be assured by testing for protein at the point of delivery, not by disqualifying certain varieties from the CWRW class.
Farmers who prefer a variety like CDC Falcon for its yield potential and agronomic properties can take steps — such as nitrogen supplementation — to increase protein levels and ensure their crop meets the prescribed 11 percent protein standard, he added.
“Personally, I think we should be spending our time and energies establishing more choices in the marketplace, rather than restricting them.”
Fowler acknowledged that it may be time to seek a replacement for Falcon, simply because the variety has been grown commercially for several years and the introduction of a new variety with improved agronomic traits and different genetics would benefit growers.
He also acknowledged that some generic winter wheat varieties are poor candidates for milling markets because of certain quality characteristics.
However, reassigning certain varieties to the general purpose class and restricting how they can be sold is an irrational policy.
Open market
Fowler said pending changes to Canada’s single desk marketing system could lead to significant changes in the way winter wheat varieties are selected and marketed.
In an open market, Canadian producers could grow Falcon and other generic varieties in areas close to the border and market them in the United States as milling varieties.
In addition, there could be monetary incentives for Canadian producers to grow American varieties that are not registered in Canada.
He said there are already a number of American hard red winter varieties lined up at the border.
“There’s going to be tremendous pressure to move those (U. S.) varieties up here and if we persist with the attitude we have right now in terms of our variety registration system, I think that we’re going to see a lot of pressure and a lot of American varieties moving north,” he said.
In Manitoba, the executive director of Winter Cereals Manitoba Inc. says Manitoba growers continue to grow Falcon despite its limited future in milling markets serviced by the CWB.
Jake Davidson said WCMI has been encouraging growers to find alternatives to Falcon but he wonders if the message is getting through.
He said seed growers in Manitoba were still moving significant quantities of CDC Falcon this year.
“I think it really needs to be pointed out that Falcon, as much as you love its agronomics, is not going to be a great crop choice because of its limited market,” Davidson said.
“It’s not exactly going to be a real high payer, so people are going to have to start looking for an alternative.”
