GrainsWest Fall 2018

Fall 2018 Grains West 34 This from-the-field perspective is invaluable, said Auch. “When you’re actually directing questions at a farmer— the guy who’s growing the grain—it lends a lot of credibility to what we’re doing.” GETTING TECHNICAL The second main facet of new crop missions is to supply technical information about the quality of the current wheat crop as this varies slightly from year to year with growing conditions. “Part of the service package of buying Canadian wheat is that we are there to support our customers,” said Dahl. New crop mission presentations lay out the quality and characteristics of the year’s crop for customers who want to know how the grain will perform in their mills and end products. For instance, how much flour will it yield, how will the quality of products such as pasta or couscous be impacted and even how will its characteristics affect food production steps such as the rate of water absorption and mixing time during dough making? The CGC Harvest Sample Program provides the raw crop data that fuels new crop missions. As high quality is the hallmark of Canadian grain, the program is the central pillar of brand maintenance. “Without farmers’ participation, we don’t have that data. And we wouldn’t be able to showcase the quality of the crop to our customers. It’s critical,” said Patti Miller, CGC chief commissioner. The voluntary initiative received crop-sample envelopes from 13,492 participants in 2016/17 and 13,218 in 2017/18. Miller would like to see submissions increase. While testing grains, oilseeds and pulses, wheat is analyzed for quality characteristics such as grade and protein content—data that’s returned to individual farmers. CGC also uses the samples to create composite data on the overall crop, breaking this down by region. Armed with this information, new crop missions are a formidable grain marketing tool. “In international markets, a government regulator that sets the quality standards and sets those measurements is a trusted partner,” said Miller of the CGC’s role. Presenting the second tier of technical data, Cigi representatives speak to the quality of the end product. Working with composite samples prepared by the CGC, Cigi completes its commercial end product quality evaluation of pan bread, noodles and pasta and shares these results during the seminars. “For example, did we see good volume when it comes to bread, and did we see good colour when it comes to pasta?” said Dean Dias, Cigi director of value chain relations. FEATURE Norbert Cabral, acting head of Cigi milling technology admires a silo filled with CWRS wheat at OrganizaciónMAS. Canadian teammembers visit the Cogorno flour mill in Peru during the Latin American new cropmission. Pictured at far right with mill staff is Yulia Borsuk, Cigi technical specialist in baking.