Wheat, durum have international reputation | Wheat board wonders if new environment will change quality focus
BANFF, Alta. — Grain marketers wondering how the elimination of single desk selling will affect wheat prices should consider another important question, said a Canadian Wheat Board manager.
How will the elimination of single desk grain marketing affect western Canadian wheat quality?
“CWRS and CWAD are two brands that are well recognized in many, many, many countries around the world,” said Graham Worden, a senior manager of market development with the CWB.
“We have taken a lot of time and a lot of effort to develop a quality characteristic within Canadian wheat that I feel is in danger of being compromised.”
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Worden, who spoke at the Prairie Grain Development Committee’s annual variety recommending meetings, told PGDC delegates that the quality of Canadian wheat is an important issue to international buyers.
It differentiates the Canadian product from lower-quality grain produced elsewhere and provides an assurance to customers who trust the Canadian brand.
Many buyers use higher quality Canadian wheat to blend with lower quality grain that is more plentiful and less expensive.
Although it’s not clear how grain marketing changes will affect Canadian wheat quality, Worden said the industry must take steps to ensure that the reputation of Canadian wheat is protected.
Failure to do so could have costly consequences.
“It is recognized that CWRS and our durums are probably the best in the world,” he said.
“We have a reputation that we have developed over the last 75 years.”
Western Canada’s variety registration system is important to maintaining Canada’s place in premium wheat markets, Worden said.
Before any new Canadian wheat cultivars are recommended for registration, they are scrutinized by expert committees for end-use quality, disease resistance and agronomic performance.
Lines that do not meet or exceed the overall performance of existing wheat varieties are unlikely to be registered.
“We have varieties that are constantly (improved), verified, approved and registered,” said Worden, who chairs an expert committee for wheat quality.
“In most cases, varieties with unacceptable functional quality will not be registered for commercial production.”
Canada’s classification, grading and quality control systems also add value to Canadian wheat and ensure that foreign customers know what they are buying, he said.
Changing those systems without thorough consultation could have lasting implications on Canadian wheat quality and foreign sales opportunities.
As the exclusive seller of Canadian wheat, the CWB has played a key role in communicating the interests of foreign buyers to Canadian plant breeders and wheat producers.
In the new marketing environment with multiple sellers, it is possible that larger volumes of Canadian wheat could be targeted toward mid-quality or low quality markets.
Mike Scheffel, a senior manager with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, said changes to the grain marketing environment could also precipitate changes to Western Canada’s variety registration system.
“Now that we’ve (no longer) got one single vendor of western Canadian wheat and barley, what does that mean for the future of the Canadian wheat industry?” Scheffel said.
“It really does come back to you (at the PGDC). You are the committee that decides what the standards are supposed to be for variety registration and what the quality parameters are going to be, both now and in the future.”
“(In August), we’re going to have different vendors of Canadian grain with different perspectives, perhaps, on what the end use quality (characteristics) should be.”
Brian Beres, chair of the PGDC committee that evaluates new wheat lines, said it is likely that Western Canada’s variety registration system will evolve to address new needs in the industry.
But quality will remain a key consideration and the PGDC will continue to balance the interests of producers and marketers alike, he said.
“I think it (our system) will probably evolve over the years but … one thing I’ve learned is that our system is very open and transparent and it accommodates a lot of needs, whether they be the needs of producers, or public breeders or private industry interests,” Beres said.
