Spring
2016
Grains
West
12
THE
FARMGATE
BY ANDREA HILDERMAN
TOOMUCHOFAGOODTHING
WHEATCROP TIGHTENSSPREADSACROSSGRADES
A FUNNY THING HAPPENS EACH
day in downtown Winnipeg, high above
the city’s bustling core. The sta of the
Canadian International Grains Institute
(Cigi), Western Canada’s premier grain
evaluation facility, busily analyzes grain
samples to determine quality and end-use
functionality. They don’t grade grain, but
they do mill, bake, extrude, stretch, beat
and bash it to learn as much about it as
they can. Once this is done, teams of peo-
ple are sent out on missions that crisscross
the globe and promote the year’s crop to
prospective buyers.
The market value of the grain in any year
is a function of its quality (including func-
tional quality) as well as the abundance and
quality of global competitor grains. Market
value is also a function of consistency of
product quality from shipment to shipment
and year to year in the top grades. For those
markets that depend on (and are willing
to pay for) this consistency, Canada’s grade
standards go a long way in assuring this
uniformity of supply.
Wheat is a complex grain, and the
wheat market is equally complex. There
are a range of important characteristics
that impact the grain’s functionality and
value. Protein is one of them. “In years
when protein is abundant here in Cana-
da and abroad, then the value of protein
drops,” said Jon Driedger, risk manage-
ment portfolio manager at FarmLink Mar-
keting Solutions. “It’s supply and demand.
This year, protein is not scarce, so growers
are probably finding they are not being
rewarded for it as they may have been in
previous years when it may have been bid
up to give good premiums.”
This year, Cigi and the Canadian Grain
Commission have found the Canada
Western Red Spring (CWRS) crop shows
little functional di erences between Nos.
1, 2 and 3. Bakers around the world use a
number of di erent bread-making meth-
ods. Cigi tested the wheat using a no-time
dough method (NTD), in which the bread
is mixed in one stage, and a sponge-and-
dough method (S&D), in which the bread
is mixed in two stages, separated by a
three- to four-hour fermentation period.
For the NTD and S&D methods, testers
found that, for composites ranging in
protein from 13.9 per cent to 14.3 per cent
for Eastern and Western Canada, grading
between No. 1 and No. 3, absorption was
the same, mixing time was similar, and
overall bread scores and bread volume
were similar. However, dough-handling
properties did di er. Dough handling is
a subjective rating that the baker uses to
describe gluten strength. CWRS No. 1 did
demonstrate improved gluten strength
over No. 2 and No. 3, and certain markets
will purchase No. 1 to ensure consistent
quality and minimal impact from down-
grading factors. The overall assessment
for the 2015 CWRS crop was that certain
factors (such as flour protein) were up, but
the crumb colour of test breads wasn’t up
to par compared to previous years. The
moral of the wheat story is that there is a
lot more to wheat than just the grade.
Western Canada exports roughly 20
million tonnes of wheat every year. The
quality of the grain has to be described so
that buyers can understand and relate to
it every year, and it has to be described in
a way that allows grain handlers to easily
segregate quality in their facilities before
shipping the grain to its final destination.
Growers do not have to sell grain based
on grade alone—grain is often bought on
specification. Growers are evolving with
the post-Canadian Wheat Board market.
Now, in order to be e ective marketers,
growers need to intimately understand the
product they produce. Representative sam-
Cigi staff members Esey Assefaw and Kasia Kaminska prepare white salted noodles for evaluation.
Photo: Canadian InternationalGrains Institute
