When Brett Meinert’s yellow mustard crop didn’t yield well two years ago, but all his other crops did, he didn’t know where to look for answers.
“The agronomics have not been researched,” said the Shaunavon grower and chair of the Saskatchewan Mustard Growers Association.
He and other growers want a checkoff that would fund mustard research and development and make production information available.
Although the crop has been grown for years, Meinert said little work has been done on it. For example, the brown mustard grown today is essentially the same as it’s always been.
Read Also
Moe and Harrison tour Ag In Motion site
Ag in Motion 2025’s more than 560 exhibitors haven’t let the smoke blanketing the province dampen their enthusiasm as the Langham farm show got under way on Tuesday morning.
“We haven’t been successful in selecting or creating a new variety,” he said.
There were 290,000 acres of brown, yellow and oriental mustard grown in Saskatchewan this year by approximately 3,000 growers.
Canadian producers account for about 90 percent of world mustard exports, and Saskatchewan growers produce about 90 percent of that.
Yellow mustard is sold mainly in North America and used in condiment mustard and prepared meats. Brown mustard is primarily sold in Europe for condiment mustard. Oriental mustard goes to Asia for use in cooking oil and various condiments.
Meinert said there are possibly other uses for mustard but growers will never know without research.
Bill Greuel, oilseed specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture, said there could be new markets based on research into the health benefits and suspected biological insecticide properties of mustard.
But research is expensive, and mustard is a relatively minor crop.
A checkoff of 0.5 percent of total revenue would cost the average grower between $100 and $150 and provide a total of $350,000 per year, he said.
That compares to $600,000 raised by the flax checkoff, and the millions raised for canola and pulse research. The producer money leverages matching dollars from the federal government.
Greuel said a checkoff might also allow producers some influence over variety development.
“The breeding programs at Agriculture Canada don’t always focus on the traits that are important to producers.”
For example, Meinert said mustard yields have been the same “forever.” Yet the average canola yield per acre has been increasing steadily.
“If we could increase yields 15 to 20 percent over the next 10 years … that would mean 10 percent of my mustard acres would be available to transfer to another crop,” he said. “My income would be the same on a smaller acreage.”
The mustard growers association is holding meetings in Humboldt Nov. 15, Watrous Nov. 16, Kindersley Dec. 11 and Swift Current Dec. 13 to discuss the checkoff.
