GrainsWest Fall 2019

Fall 2019 grainswest.com 25 staying competitive in the international marketplace. “Companies in these countries need to be educated that Canadian product is different than that of other countries,” he said. “It helps that there are organizations in Canada that, if [these companies] have technical questions about how to mill or bake with this product, that there is somebody on the other side who can have those answers for them.” Yield, while important, shouldn’t outweigh the attention paid to quality on Canadian farms. “We’re not trying to go toe to toe with [Ukraine and Russia]— that’s a game we can’t win,” said Nemeth. “They are yield, yield, yield. And the best thing that we did was to maintain the quality of our high-protein wheat … you can see, for example, a market like Indonesia is buying a lot more medium-protein wheat from the Black Sea, but they’re also hand in hand buying a lot more CWRS from Canada. So, is it a threat? I don’t think so,” she added. “I think we’re working together and, especially for CWRS, it’s giving us this opportunity to work with them.” Ramage noted Canada produces very little medium-protein wheat, and what medium-strength wheat it does produce tends to go into markets where Canada has a logistical advantage that allows it to compete effectively with cheaper wheat, like that coming out of the Black Sea region. “I think we do need to continue monitoring developments in the Black Sea, but not only the Black Sea. We need to keep monitoring with all of our competitors, whether it’s Australia, or the US, or others,” he said. “But Canada, thanks to the fact that our wheat is differentiated and we do produce a premium product in many cases, is in a good position to continue competing on the world stage.” Black Sea InvestigativeMission participants observe the testing of grain for export in Odessa, Ukraine.