WINNIPEG – The Canadian Wheat Board is expanding its program for Canadian Western Red Winter Select wheat. The most notable change is the elimination of the requirement to plant pedigreed seed, said CWB agronomist Andrea Hilderman.
“Our two partners in the program, Winter Cereals Canada and the Alberta Winter Wheat Producers Commission, both felt that removing the pedigree requirement should get the acres up pretty quickly. So, a farmer who has grown one of the eligible varieties in previous years can use saved seed to plant in 2004. It must be seed quality, of course, and 95 percent pure.”
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There are four main producer benefits in the program for 2004-05. First, the producer receives a premium of $10 per tonne for signing the contract.
Remaining in effect will be the premium of 30 cents per tonne for every 0.1 percent increase in protein from the 11.5 level up to 14 percent.
There is guaranteed acceptance and delivery within the crop year. The farmer is also paid an escalating storage fee of three cents per tonne for the first 90 days. It moves up to five cents per tonne from days 91-180. Beyond that, the storage payment locks in at seven cents a tonne.
“We have seven eligible winter wheat varieties this year, so there should be one that is suited for every region and condition, right across the Prairies,” said CWB agronomist Mike Grenier.
Those varieties are AC Bellatrix, AC Readymade, AC Tempest, CDC Buteo, CDC Osprey, McClintock and Norstar, he said.
“McClintock and Buteo have just recently received registration. Both varieties are suited for the eastern Prairies. There is a limited amount of McClintock seed available for 2004. Buteo seed is only available for seed multiplication.”
Grenier said the CWB will have no trouble finding a market for the winter wheat.
“We’ve got 57,000 acres on the program right now. We’d like to see that expand to about 200,000 acres. The purpose of this market program is to give us enough of this higher protein product that we can do more market testing around the world.”
Hilderman reminded growers that, although the pedigree requirement has been lifted from the select program, the Seed Act still states that it is illegal to sell bin-run seed as a specific variety.
“If you have bin-run McClintock, for example, you can go ahead and sell it as just plain winter wheat seed. But you cannot sell it as McClintock according to the Seed Act.”
There is an Oct. 15 deadline to sign up a winter wheat crop for the 2004-05 program.
The presentation by Hilderman and Grenier was part of a winter wheat field day held June 29 at Kelburn Farm south of St. Norbert, Man. Kelburn is a privately funded 500 acre research and development farm, owned and operated by Richardson Farms.
In addition to agronomic research with numerous partners, Kelburn also takes a lead role in educating the public and school groups about agricultural production and the role of agriculture.
