Hog farmers have said for years that the kernel visual distinguishability system has held back the development of high-yielding feed wheat.
But Canadian Wheat Board official Earl Geddes told the Manitoba Pork Council that it needs to put its money where its mouth has been for so long.
He said the council’s resolution calling for an end to the KVD system would put pressure on hog farmers to pay for research for a replacement: a cost that grain farmers now bear.
“I think that would be a good thing, quite frankly, because here we are as an industry demanding to get rid of KVD, demanding a high yielding feed wheat, and who’s paying for all the development? … Wheat growers,” Geddes said.
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“I think it’s time for the hog industry to step up to the plate.”
But Manitoba Pork Council chair Karl Kynoch didn’t offer to pick up any of the multimillion-dollar costs that the wheat board and the grain industry have already incurred in developing a new system that might solve the problem.
“I think where we’re prepared to step up is actually getting those high-yielding wheats,” Kynoch said. “We’re ready to do our part.”
Hog producers, especially in the Red River Valley, are keen to develop high-yielding feed wheat varieties. American corn is often the cheapest feed source for Manitoba pigs, which leaves Manitoba producers paying more for their feed than what producers pay in Iowa and southern Minnesota.
Right now almost all new wheat varieties are aimed at the milling wheat market for human consumption. Feed wheat almost always begins as a milling wheat that is downgraded because of a quality problem that occurs during the growing season.
Agriculture Canada wheat breeder Doug Brown said feed wheat in Western Canada is disappointing because it isn’t designed to be feed wheat.
“At present, feed wheat is not a class, but feed wheat is a grade, and a failing grade which no one can afford,” said Brown.
“Grain growers cannot afford to produce something that is off-grade, that doesn’t make the market.”
Brown said livestock producers’ disappointment with feed wheat is understandable.
“You can’t feed valuable animals … off-goods. Not something that’s discarded or burned or frozen or rejected.”
Because the KVD system has practically exhausted the ability of wheat kernels to look different, developing a new feed wheat class that meets KVD requirements has been next to impossible. As a result, Brown said he won’t put any effort into developing feed wheat varieties.
“Until we have a class of wheat that can be feed wheat, I feel that as a breeder I cannot spend your money as taxpayers, producing something that cannot be registered,” said Brown, who tried in the late 1990s to develop “ultra high-yielding” feed wheat that could be registered. “I cannot justify breeding for it at present.”
Brown managed to develop varieties that yielded 10 to 20 percent better than milling varieties, but they couldn’t meet the KVD rules.
Geddes said the wheat board would consider relaxing some of the KVD requirements for the smaller classes of milling wheat, but not for Canada Western Red Spring wheat.
However, he said a feed wheat class could be established if the agricultural industry applies pressure to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which sets the rules for variety registration.
