Winter wheat plantings in Western Canada continued their downward trend last fall, but growers and researchers say it’s unlikely that acreage will go any lower.
Statistics Canada estimated total prairie plantings at 250,000 acres in 2018, down from 335,000 acres in 2017 and 535,000 acres in 2016.
A decade ago, total prairie plantings surpassed 1.5 million acres.
However, that number was likely influenced by wet seeding conditions in the spring that left many growers looking for crops that could be planted later in the year after field conditions improved.
Read Also
Claims filed in Alberta hailstorm aftermath
The numbers are still coming in for the cost of the damage caused by a huge hail storm that hit various areas of Alberta Aug. 20.
“Prairie-wide, we’re going to be around a quarter of a million acres (in 2018), so it’s a lower number than we wanted to see,” said Mark Akins, chair of the Saskatchewan Winter Cereals Development Commission (SWDC).
“The harvest dragged on last year, and I think our seeded acres (were impacted) by that, but I also think that with the moisture we had last fall … we got reasonable establishment on all of those acres.”
Akins cited a number of factors behind the reduction in winter wheat plantings.
Weather-related harvest delays and the development of new higher-yielding canola varieties that require a few extra days to reach their full yield potential have tightened an already narrow seeding window for winter cereals.
Concerns about winter survival can also deter many growers, although average winter kill rates are typically a lot lower than what many growers would think.
In Saskatchewan, the seeding deadline for winter wheat under the provincial crop insurance program is Sept. 15.
Akins said the winter cereals commission has been talking with the Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp. about extending the fall seeding deadline.
“Crop insurance was very receptive in talking about it, but it all comes down to data,” he said.
“They need to see data in order to know what their risk level is.”
The commission is currently involved in a number of projects aimed at gathering data and documenting production risks that are associated with later seeding dates.
In Manitoba, the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp. offers full coverage for winter wheat crops planted on or before Sept. 15 and reduced coverage options for crops that are planted from Sept. 16-20.
Despite the downward trend in seeded acres, prairie farmers who are familiar with winter wheat production are optimistic about the crop’s future.
New varieties that have recently become available offer higher yield potential under a wider variety of growing conditions.
AAC Elevate, available through SeCan members, has been available since the fall of 2017 and is beginning to gain acres across the West.
Elevate has short strong straw, improved protein content relative to check varieties and relatively high grain yield potential, particularly in western growing regions where lack of moisture is often a more prevalent concern.
In a recent presentation to winter wheat growers, Agriculture Canada winter wheat breeder Rob Graf said Elevate has demonstrated outstanding drought tolerance, consistently out-yielding all other varieties under extreme drought conditions.
Graf’s program at Lethbridge is hoping to recapture that drought tolerance in new lines now under development.
Other registered varieties that are expected to become available to commercial growers in the fall of 2019 include AAC Goldrush, available through FP Genetics, and AAC Wildfire, available through SeCan.
Graf described Goldrush as a good replacement for CDC Buteo with a similar disease resistance package, better straw strength, equal winter hardiness and higher yield potential.
“If you like Buteo, you’ll love Goldrush,” he said.
Perhaps the most exciting new variety to the commercial market over the past few years is AAC Wildfire.
Akins described Wildfire’s yield potential as a “huge breakthrough” for winter wheat growers in Western Canada.
“If you look back at some of the new varieties that have come out over the past 10 years or so, we’ve been able to creep up by a couple of percent here and there,” said Akins, who farms near Hearne, Sask.
“But a variety like Wildfire looks to be a big jump forward in yield in a variety that still has relatively good milling characteristics.”
In his presentation to growers, Graf said AAC Wildfire is the variety “that everybody is talking about.”
“It’s certainly an exciting new variety with a huge yield increase over existing varieties — in that 15 percent range over Buteo and Radiant,” he said.
Available as certified seed in the fall of 2019, Wildfire has good standability, good winter hardiness and good stripe rust resistance.
The variety also produces reliable yields under drought conditions, although Wildfire yields under extreme drought conditions are typically not on par with AAC Elevate, Graf said.
“Under extreme drought conditions … we’ve grown Elevate and Wildfire side by side … and despite the fact that Wildfire looks better visually, Elevate has beat it every time.”
Graf also said Wildfire does not offer stem rust resistance, which could be a consideration in higher moisture areas of eastern Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
“If you’re considering growing Wildfire (this fall), be aware that it doesn’t have stem rust resistance,” Graf said.
“That’s OK in the western Prairies, but as you move into eastern Saskatchewan and Manitoba, there is some risk associated with that.”
Graf and other researchers are looking for ways to narrow the quality gap that currently exists between Canada Western Red Winter Wheat (CWRWW) and Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) wheat, Canada’s most coveted milling class.
Incremental gains in important quality parameters, including protein content, could eventually put winter wheat quality on par with CWRS in terms of overall milling quality, researchers suggested.
That, combined with reduced weed management requirements and the higher yield potential normally associated with winter wheat, could make winter wheat a more attractive option for buyers and growers.
