Western Canada’s wheat classification system will not be getting a complete overhaul, but it will be getting a tune-up, a new set of brakes and possibly a new paint job a couple of years down the road.
The Canadian Grain Commission announced May 8 it is moving ahead with a plan to review the wheat varieties assigned to the Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) and Canada Prairie Spring Red (CPSR) classes.
The review is intended to “protect the quality, consistency and end-use performance” of wheat sold under the CPSR and CWRS classes.
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More specifically, it is aimed at narrowing the acceptable range of gluten strength within the CWRS class — the most widely grown wheat class in Western Canada — and ensuring that Canadian wheat is meeting the expectations of millers and foreign buyers.
“Stakeholders expressed strong support … to protect the quality, consistency and end-use performance of the Canada Western Red Spring and Canada Prairie Spring Red wheat classes,” the CGC said in a May 8 news release.
“As a result, a review of the varieties assigned to the CWRS and CPSR wheat classes will be initiated immediately.”
The CGC review also includes the creation of a new “interim wheat class,” which will be in place as of Aug. 1, 2015, the beginning of the 2015-16 crop year.
The interim wheat class will provide a temporary home for American wheat varieties such as Faller and Prosper, which received interim registration from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s variety registration office earlier this year.
A third U.S. variety, ND Elgin, could be added to the interim class later this year, pending CFIA registration.
It is unclear whether the “interim wheat class” will become a permanent structure within Canada’s wheat classification system or whether the American varieties will be reassigned elsewhere at a later date.
Complete details of the CGC review have yet to be made public, but CGC officials told the Western Producer that a number of varieties within the CWRS and CPSR classes have been identified as potential candidates for review and potential reclassification.
Existing CWRS varieties that are under the microscope include those on the low end of the gluten strength scale, with gluten strength values that regularly fall below Carberry.
Varieties on that list are expected to include Harvest, Unity and Lillian, three of the most poplar CWRS varieties currently being grown in Western Canada.
Organizations that hold proprietary rights to CWRS varieties under review will be receiving letters this month outlining two options:
- Transition the varieties voluntarily to a different wheat class with lower gluten strength and end-use quality parameters.
- Conduct additional trials and provide trial data to prove that the varieties should be remain under their current classification.
Variety owners will be asked to respond by May 31.
Those who choose the second option will be expected to conduct two years of additional trials and provide end-use quality data to the CGC.
The cost of conducting the additional trials will be borne by the varieties’ owners.
Daryl Beswitherick, manager of quality assurance at the CGC, declined to say how many varieties will be involved in the review.
It will include “just varieties that the CGC has decided … need to be either moved to another class or need to be re-evaluated to determine if they should remain in that class,” he said.
“We will be coming out in the near future with the list of varieties, but we’re waiting for responses back from the owners … so we’re not saying the total number at this point.”
CWRS varieties that are voluntarily reclassified as well as those that fail to meet the heightened quality parameters are likely to be reassigned to another class, but it is unclear at this point where they would be assigned.
It is possible that a new class of lower quality Canadian milling wheat could be created. Alternately, the interim class containing American milling varieties could be made permanent and expanded to include existing lower quality CWRS cultivars.
“Stakeholders advised caution in introducing a new wheat class,” said CGC chief commissioner Elwin Hermanson.
“With that in mind, any decision made on a new wheat class will be based on careful study of potential market demand, farm gate value, and grade structure.”
Further decisions regarding the modernized wheat class system will be announced once the commission has reviewed further information.
During the past few years, end users of Canadian grain have complained that the quality of wheat within the CWRS class has become less predictable and less consistent.
The CGC review is an attempt to address those concerns.
brian.cross@producer.com
