The commission will require all red spring varieties to meet a set range of gluten strength desired by wheat buyers
The Canadian Grain Commission is moving ahead with a plan to review the wheat varieties assigned to the Canada Western Red Spring and Canada Prairie Spring Red classes.
The commission said the review is intended to “protect the quality, consistency and end-use performance” of wheat being sold within the CPSR and CWRS classes.
In practice, it will narrow the acceptable range of gluten strength within the CWRS class, which is the most popular wheat class in Western Canada, and require that all red spring varieties have gluten strength values that fall between those of Carberry and Glenn.
Read Also
Stock dogs show off herding skills at Ag in Motion
Stock dogs draw a crowd at Ag in Motion. Border collies and other herding breeds are well known for the work they do on the farm.
The change will likely sit well with foreign buyers of Canadian wheat, who have raised concerns over the past few years about the quality of Canadian wheat and inconsistent gluten strength, a key criteria for millers and bread makers.
However, the change is unlikely to get a warm reception from wheat breeders, seed marketers and pedigreed seed growers, some of whom could see their CWRS seed stocks demoted to a lower value wheat class within the next two to three years.
“Stakeholders expressed strong support … to protect the quality, consistency and end-use performance of the Canada Western Red Spring and Canada Prairie Spring Red wheat classes,” the grain commission said in a May 8 news release.
“As a result, a review of the varieties assigned to the CWRS and CPSR wheat classes will be initiated immediately.”
The review was initiated in re-sponse to quality concerns raised by foreign buyers of Canadian wheat, particularly the CWRS class. It is intended to tighten the quality parameters for Canadian milling wheat and narrow the acceptable range of gluten strength.
The commission also announced the creation of a new “interim wheat class,” which will be put in place Aug. 1.
It will provide a temporary home for American wheat varieties such as Faller and Prosper, which received interim registration from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s variety registration office earlier this year.
A third U.S. variety, ND Elgin, could be added to the interim class later this year, pending CFIA registration.
It is unclear whether the “interim wheat class” will become a permanent structure within Canada’s wheat classification system, or whether the American varieties will be reassigned elsewhere at a later date.
Complete details of the review have yet to be made public, but grain commission officials said varieties within the CWRS and CPSR classes have been identified as potential candidates for reclassification.
Existing CWRS varieties that are under the microscope include those on the low end of the gluten strength scale with gluten strength values that regularly fall below Carberry.
Those varieties are likely to include Harvest, Unity and Lillian, three of the most poplar CWRS varieties in Western Canada.
The commission said the “owners” of CWRS varieties under review will be receiving letters this month outlining two options:
- Voluntarily move varieties to a different wheat class with lower gluten strength and less stringent end-use quality parameters.
- Put their varieties through two years of additional post-registration trials and provide trial data to the grain commission, supporting the claim that the varieties should be remain in their current class.
The commission has asked variety owners to make their intentions known by May 31. The cost of conducting the additional trials will be borne by the owners.
“Stakeholders advised caution in introducing a new wheat class,” said chief commissioner Elwin Hermanson. “With that in mind, any decision made on a new wheat class will be based on careful study of potential market demand, farmgate value and grade structure.”
Ron DePauw, an independent science consultant, said efforts to ensure the quality and consistency of Canadian wheat exports are well intended. However, he questioned whether the review process will lead to an accurate determination of which varieties should remain in the CWRS class and which ones should be removed.
“When you’re talking about the reclassification of CWRS varieties, there’s not very many of these varieties that have actually been grown together with Carberry … since (Carberry is) rather new,” said DePauw, who worked as a wheat breeder for nearly 40 years.
“They’ve really never, ever been grown side-by-side in the same trials subject to the same environmental conditions … so where is the data that would be required to make a judgment that one variety is suitable for the CWRS class and another is not?”
