REGINA – Glen Seymour has a winning reputation. This fall even the seasoned victor was overwhelmed by the awards he collected.
The Stewart Valley, Sask., farmer picked up seed grain wins at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto and at last week’s Canadian Western Agribition in Regina. He won the grand aggregate cereal, grand champion durum, grand champion oats and premier exhibitor at Agribition and grand champion durum and grand champion oats at the Royal.
Seymour operates a 1,600-acre select seed grower farm near the southern shores of Lake Diefenbaker. He said the durum and oat samples that won for him at this season’s shows were grown in 1997. The entrants have two years from which to select grain for each year’s competition.
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The seed grower has competed at Agribition since 1982 and since “the mid-Eighties” at the Royal.
“I’ve won at both shows and had grand aggregate cereal, with some Wakooma durum, at last year’s Agribition, but I’ve never won this much. It was a pretty good year,” said the now two-in-a-row winner of Agribition’s grand aggregate cereal award.
Last year was a good year for clean samples, said the grain grower.
“We had early rain and then it was hot and dry. Low disease meant it was a cleaner product,” he said.
The grains are marked on the basis of 20 points each for soundness, plumpness, color, freedom from weed seed; and 10 points each for freedom from other grains and useless matter and freedom from disease.
Seymour said the winning reputation has allowed him to successfully market his seed into both Alberta and Manitoba.
“Those are markets I never would have had if it weren’t for the competition wins,” he said.
The Wascana durum for which Seymour won the cereals awards this year may not be the latest in seed breeding technology, but he says he has to share credit for his success with plant breeders without whom “none of what I do would be possible.”
Earlier this week Seymour could be found on his farm preparing some of his 1998 crop for a new year of competitions.
“I’m cleaning up a 100 bushels or so of durum for the Seager Wheeler (competition) at Saskatoon (Crop Production Show) in January. We’ll just run it through the cleaner a couple of times and it should be ready.”
