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quality to prevent disputes with the buyer.
“We like to know as we’re combining along what grades
we’ve got so we can price grain,” said Schmidt.
The deadline for submitting samples this year is Nov. 1. The
sooner samples are submitted, however, the sooner farmers
can receive their results—whether by phone, email or visiting
the CGC’s booth at fall farm shows like Agri-Trade in Red Deer.
Schmidt appreciates the simplicity of the process.
“They send you everything you need,” she said, referring to
the HSP package. “Postage is paid. You’re sampling anyway so
you might as well use it.” While there are no additional costs for
producers to use the HSP, farmers do pay an average CGC fee
of $1.82 per metric tonne for grain shipped to Canadian ports.
According to Twylla McKendry, the CGC’s programmanager
for analytical services, the CGC sent out more than 26,000
sample packages in 2013 and had about 10,000 of them
returned in the fall. While each program participant is limited
to eight sample bags, there are no restrictions on the types of
grains or oilseeds submitted. Whether it’s a variety of crops or
eight different lots of hard red spring wheat represented in the
samples, it is important that each bag is labelled with the class
and variety name, the growing region, and the producer’s own
identifier such as bin number or land location.
It only takes a couple minutes for inspectors and technicians
at the CGC lab to grade and analyze a sample, but that’s just
the beginning of the process for McKendry and her staff. They
combine individual samples of similar grade from 10 growing
regions to give buyers an idea of the average protein and
quality in a specific area of the Prairies.
Composite samples of wheat of the same grade and protein
are milled and baked to give further technical information on
the performance of wheat in the form of flour, dough, bread
and noodles. Pulses and oilseeds are also tested for specific
quality parameters. Because samples are identified by variety,
the CGC can also compare quality and performance by variety.
The samples help the CGC ensure that its grading factors
reflect the current science and reality of grain conditions.
Research on the effect of mycotoxins recently prompted a
change to the ergot tolerance for most classes of wheat in
Western Canada from 0.01 or 0.02 per cent to 0.04 per cent,
meaning more grain can be delivered into higher classes while
still maintaining food safety.
“We research the effect that grading factors have on quality,
and the data generated provides us with the science to revise
the grading factor tolerances to benefit producers,” said
McKendry. She explained that the CGC is also researching a
way to precisely determine chlorophyll content (green seed
count). “Right now, the seed has to be crushed. We’re looking
at ways to do that with an instrument so it’s not as subjective."
As harvest rolls on across the Prairies and the CGC starts
to amass samples directly from producers, Cigi also receives
representative samples of each class and grade of wheat from
grain handling companies.
Analyzing the wheat crop is a top priority in the fall. By
November, Cigi staff, CGC staff and farmers depart for Asia,
Europe, South America and Africa to talk to major buyers about
the attributes of the year’s wheat crop.
Since each importing country generally buys wheat from
a specific region of Canada, Cigi groups samples by region
and soil type. A grain analysis looks at factors like bushel and
thousand-kernel weight, protein, moisture and degrading
factors. Cigi staff then mill the wheat to assess flour yield. The
flour is further processed into bread and noodles. Over 20 tests
measure factors that matter to millers and bakers—from flour
colour and spaghetti strength to bread baking time and the
distance a ball of dough can be stretched before it breaks.
Rex Newkirk, vice-president of research and innovation
at Cigi, explained the two-fold objective of Cigi’s harvest
assessment.
“One of the objectives is to provide analysis back to specific
grain companies on the samples from their regions. This
gives information they can use in their buying decisions,” said
Newkirk. The other objective is to give international buyers the
“best representation, from a commercial perspective, of what’s
coming out of each region.”
THE WONDERS OF WHEAT:
Cigi technical specialist Yulia
Borsuk (right) discusses with farmers how the qualities of CWRS
wheat influence the crumb structure of bread during a Combine to
Customer program in January.
Fall
2014
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