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Agriculture Financial Services Corporation, said that the
potential implications for crop choice are speculation at this
point. “Producers, in terms of insurance, will be insured at
prices that will reflect what the grades are being bought at,”
he said.
In Alberta, yields will be carried over from their history. “If
you have a history where the variety will be moved into the
new class, you’ll see the yield that you have and your history
moved over there,” he said. “They’re seeing a decline in some
of the varieties in terms of insured acres, and less Hard Red
Spring in the [Canada Northern Hard Red] class. However, if
people are growing [Canada Prairie Spring] and Hard Red,
they won’t see any changes there, and insurance shouldn’t
affect the markets.”
New Liskeard, Ontario farmer and Canadian Seed Growers’
Association president Kevin Runnalls uses both variety guides
and seed guides to help him pick varieties. While the Prairie
provinces offer printed guides, the eastern provincial guides are
available online. Seed sellers SeCan and Canterra Seeds provide
some of their own seed trial data, and Agriculture and Agri-Food
Canada also provides seed trial data online.
“In my own case, I use a lot of data and I wait to see
results,” said Runnalls. He added that many farmers rely on
seed salespeople to make variety recommendations. “But
sometimes seed orders are already written and you haven’t
even seen the 2017 seed results,” he said.
He said he has more faith in proven top performers. “You’ve
got the seed data from the pedigree, you can find out how the
varieties perform. That’s certainly what I use.”
Given its vast acreage in 2017, Runnalls suggested AAC
Brandon may remain popular in 2018, but hesitated to predict
which other varieties may emerge as hits. He did suggest that
growers will be looking for shorter-stature wheat as well as
varieties that handle drought and have some Fusarium head
blight tolerance. “Here in our region, protein was a big issue,
so we’re looking for varieties that can sustain protein,” he said.
Lisa Nemeth, director of international markets with the
Canadian International Grains Institute (Cigi), said farmers
tend to make variety selections based on regional growing
conditions, previous growing experience and knowledge
about what is best for their land.
She agreed AAC Brandon will be a predominant variety.
The acres planted will be pretty similar to last year in terms
of Canada Western Red Spring wheat. Other major wheat
varieties planted will include Cardale, Carberry and Utmost. In
Alberta, Stettler and Elie will cover big acres.
Among durum varieties, planting of Strongfield decreased
a little in 2017, while Transcend and Raymore are expected to
increase in 2018. “Fortitude is another one that will be popular
because it is newer. It will continue to go up,” said Nemeth.
In winter wheat, Emerson will be fairly strong once again
due to its Fusarium tolerance, she said, and Flourish should
expand further in the coming crop year.
Flavio Capettini, head of research and a barley breeder
at the provincial Lacombe Field Crop Development Centre
(FCDC), said that predicting which varieties will be popular
next year is difficult. “In barley, there is more and more interest
in lodging conditions both for feed and for malting. What
you’ll hear from farmers is that they would grow more barley if
it would not lodge as much,” he said.
Last year, lodging was not a big problem, because relatively
low moisture availability limited plant growth. However,
farmers will continue to make barley variety choices based on
lodging resistance as well as yield, and gravitate to varieties
that are desired by maltsters.
Farmers are also interested in keeping their costs low and
reducing disease pressure from pathogens such as Fusarium
and scald. Capettini suggested that the malting barley variety
Lowe, which was released last year by breeders at the FCDC,
may prove a popular variety.
He said it is important for farmers to get information from
sources they trust and to make decisions based on their
soil type and region. Consulting with colleagues as well as
attending ag group meetings and farm tours is also a good
way to get information on variety performance.
The Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre estimated
that CDC Copeland, AC Metcalfe and AAC Synergy will
continue to be top contenders for acreage. In choosing barley
varieties, the organization recommends buying certified seed
as well as talking to malting barley buyers about marketing
opportunities.
Photo:CanadianSeedGrowers’Association
According to CSGA president Kevin Runnalls, streamlining and the creation of a
single-windowmodel for the seed system are the central priorities of the organiza-
tion’s five-year strategic plan.