Alexander the Great untied the Gordian knot in a simple manner: he chopped right through the mess with his sword.
And medieval English philosopher William of Ockham argued that the simplest solution to a problem was often the best.
Some Canadian farmers were thinking along these lines at a Canadian Grain Commission conference looking at wheat quality assurance programs around the world. A number suggested that the simple and cheap Australian system might be a better approach than a technologically complicated replacement for the kernel visual distinguishability, or KVD system.
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“The Australian system seems to have solved the question of farmers actually supplying what they say they are,” said Shaunavon, Sask., mustard grower Brett Meinert.
“It’s not penalty based. It’s carrot based.”
Unlike Canada’s highly refined KVD system, which involves a tightly regulated system in which the seed of each variety must visually conform to the standards for its class, the Australian system relies on a looser collection of wheat classes that aren’t judged by variety but by end-use characteristics.
For some crops the testing is much less rigorous than in Canada’s system, but producers have to make an official declaration about what a load of grain contains. Only occasionally are the declarations followed by scientific tests that reveal whether the producer was accurate in his declaration.
Some producers said that system sounded good to them.
“Learn from the Australian model. … Farmers are good at knowing what they are producing. A declaration system can work,” said one.
“You don’t need to have rapid detection technology to make that work out. I don’t think we can wait for the black box. I think we need to move on.”
Geoffrey Annison, the head of grain quality technology at the Australian Wheat Board, said his country’s system is much simpler than the Canadian system and this hasn’t jeopardized its ability to sell into premium markets.
“Australia is still able to provide the quality wheat products that our customers demand,” said Annison.
“We think that the wheat classification system has served the wheat industry in Australia extremely well and has returned premiums to growers.”
