Send grain samples: grain commission

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Published: July 2, 2009

The 2009 crop is far from ready to harvest, but the Canadian Grain Commission is already looking for participants in its annual harvest sample program.

Commissioner Cam Dahl told producers and industry officials at the Western Canada Farm Progress Show in Regina that the samples help determine the quality of the crop as it goes to market.

“We want samples that are representative,” he said.

“We need as many samples as possible from as many areas as possible.”

The information can be used to support future research or access specific markets.

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For example, the program has helped scientists understand that fusarium is evolving over time.

Frost-damaged samples have led researchers to look at uses for those crops.

There is no cost to participate. Producers who sign up receive a kit in the mail that includes an identification number and postage-paid envelopes in which to send the samples.

The grain commission will provide an unofficial grade for each sample and analytical results such as the protein content for cereals and pulses, the oil, protein and chlorophyll content for canola and the oil and protein content and iodine value for flax.

The results for wheat and oilseeds take about four weeks, while pulse analysis is available within six to eight weeks.

Dahl said the grade is unofficial because a lot can happen in the time between sending in a sample and delivering to the elevator.

One farmer told him the commission could make his life easier by sending sample bags that will actually fit through a mail slot. Working with input suppliers to make the bags available at their locations might also increase participation, he said.

Dahl also said the commission’s grain research lab has an increasingly important role to play as more consumers become concerned about food safety. Residues, heavy metals and mycotoxins are on the list of substances to watch.

The commission is working with Health Canada as it develops regulations to impose maximum limits for the presence of ochratoxin A, a potential human carcinogen that has been isolated in food such as cereal grain, coffee and wine.

About the author

Karen Briere

Karen Briere

Karen Briere grew up in Canora, Sask. where her family had a grain and cattle operation. She has a degree in journalism from the University of Regina and has spent more than 30 years covering agriculture from the Western Producer’s Regina bureau.

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