Winnipeg, July 19 – Despite heavy rains throughout July, Manitoba’s winter wheat is in good condition moving into desiccation, the head of an industry group says.
The Manitoba winter cereals group is also preparing for an coming government program by working alongside other Canadian wheat commissions.
“Everybody is still pretty happy. The winter wheat can handle a lot of wetness, and it sucks up a lot of moisture,” said Jake Davidson, executive director at Winter Cereals Manitoba Inc.
Davidson added that the province’s winter wheat producers are getting ready to desiccate, and harvest will start in August.
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The Manitoba winter cereals group has met with the Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF) in advance of Growing Forward 3.
“Anytime the government puts money out it’s a good thing. The trick is to pull together the right research projects to make it worthwhile,” Davidson said.
Growing Forward 3 is still in the works, and is also being called Canada’s next agricultural policy framework.
Federal, provincial and territorial governments are currently working together to develop the next agricultural policy framework to launch April 1, 2018, Agriculture Canada said on its website.
“We’re trying to consolidate wheat and winter wheat research across Canada into one big project,” Davidson said. “We’re a year and a bit out, but you’ve got to be prepared for these kind of things.”
In this new round of funding, the WGRF is looking to include wheat commissions in the west and east, said Gina Feist, research program manager at Western Grains Research Foundation.
The foundation is putting together a national research strategy, to submit next year, and will release information about its highest priorities later this year.
“We’ve had some of the initial planning meetings of bringing a bid together, and we’ve been looking forward to a call from researchers in the next couple months,” Feist said.
