Despite the encouragement of crop groups and conservation outfits, winter wheat acreage in Western Canada has decreased sharply to 2.7 million tonnes in 2022 from the record high of 4.8 million in 2008. A sign this trend may reverse, acreage has increased slightly in Manitoba where farmers have struggled to seed spring wheat in wet fields.

Canada produces some of the world’s best malting barley. While new varieties supply high end-use quality and disease resistance, farmers can help ensure it meets the needs of domestic and international malting and brewing customers.

As consumer demand for organic cereals grows, so does the draw for farmers to serve this specialized market with its premium prices. GrainsWest spoke with organic farmers who said this premium is typically 1.5 to two times greater than conventional pricing. The rising cost of conventional inputs and farmland make it an attractive option for those who want to grow a highly profitable crop while they carry less overhead. But it’s not a one-size-fits-all approach. This non-conventional sector requires strategic farm management on an individual level and, more broadly, the support of continued research and innovation to drive it forward.

On a sunny day late last June, a group of agricultural journalists from around the world gathered next to the lush barley field plots maintained by the Field Crop Development Centre (FCDC) in Lacombe. As they scrawled notes about Alberta malting barley production, the group listened to FCDC researchers discuss the varieties the facility has developed over the years, including Lowe. The group sampled Lowe Down, a one-off blonde ale by Olds College Brewery. Its ingredients included Lowe malt produced by Red Shed Malting near Innisfail.

It may be thought of as a disease of the past, but ergot still causes headaches for farmers across the Prairies. While its prevalence may be high, its threat level is typically low and often a non-issue. However, the fungus that’s been a fact of life since at least the Middles Ages, remains a concern. Downgrades at the elevator and contaminated screenings cause issues for grain farmers and feedlot owners alike.

Ten years ago, Canada’s Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR) Act was updated to align with UPOV ’91, the globally acknowledged framework that protects the innovation of plant breeders and helps them profit from new variety development. The legislation is intended to protect breeders’ rights, increase investment in plant breeding and boost access to foreign genetics. Farm groups strongly resisted its adoption as they feared the cost burden for farmers.

The Canadian Alliance for Net-Zero Agri-Food (CANZA) recognizes the carbon credit market can potentially create agricultural revenue streams. As agricultural carbon pricing has slowly developed in recent years, sequestration has typically been measured by lab analysis of soil samples. Though effective, it is a slow and costly process. A rough estimate of $3.30 per acre for sample analysis would be combined with the cost of sampling and further processing. Farmers who wish to participate in the carbon assets market may require speedier data delivery at a lower cost.

There’s an old saying: A garden of purple is always in bloom. A new barley variety promises one loaded with anthocyanins, a natural pigment with antioxidant properties linked to lowering the risk of diseases such as hyperglycemia, hypercholesterolemia and cancer.

In recent years, the global brewing industry has increasingly focused on the environmental sustainability of beer. Many of the world’s largest breweries have set aggressive emissions reductions targets. This has been driven by a combination of jurisdictional regulations, corporate social responsibility goals and consumer demand. Much of the initial focus has been on manufacturing, packaging and transportation, but their initiatives increasingly encompass the entire supply chain including emissions associated with raw materials like barley malt.

Each year, crop diseases diminish yields in Western Canada and around the globe. To address such perennial threats, Australian company BioScout created its signature product, an agricultural disease detection, spore identification and quantification system. Its purpose is to help farmers manage crop disease by identifying spores prior to the appearance of symptoms on the plants. BioScout has launched active pilot projects around the world to test the unit’s ability to detect diseases in crops such as fruits, vegetables, oilseeds, legumes and cereals.