Reading Time: 5 minutes Some new varieties and new markets may signal the end of a long decline in Western Canada’s rye production. The 1990s started with rye area pushing the 1.3-million-acre mark, yet this year only 220,000 acres went into the ground. But some of those acres were planted with new hybrid varieties that have produced some eye-popping […] Read more
Rye takes an innovation jump
Hybrid varieties and new specialty markets are breathing new life into what had become the poor cousin of the Prairie cereal family
New life for triticale
High yield, high nutrition, disease resistance and swath grazing potential are among the attractions of this wheat/rye hybrid
Reading Time: 6 minutes Triticale was introduced to Canada in the 1960s and got a bit of extra fanfare from a mention in the famous Star Trek episode “The Trouble With Tribbles.” Interest soon waned, but the wheat-rye hybrid is now getting some renewed attention as a versatile crop with potential for grain, forage and ethanol production. Breeding programs […] Read more
New in spring cereal crop varieties
Developments in the public breeding sector are generating excitement in spring cereals
Reading Time: 2 minutes The world of spring cereals may never be the same in Eastern Canada, especially in the next few years. In the past 12 months, two new positions have been filled within the public breeding sector, with new breaders at the University of Guelph and at Agriculture and Agri-Food’s Eastern Cereal and Oilseed Research Centre (AAFC-ECORC) […] Read more
Peas — your morning cereal
Cereal manufacturers are looking to counter declining sales by increasing the nutritional content of their products
Reading Time: 3 minutes As the quality of processed foods faces greater scrutiny from consumers and media, the food industry has responded by focusing greater attention on improving nutrition in their products. Cigi (Canadian International Grains institute) is currently working with an international pulse task force led by representatives from major food-processing companies, food equipment manufacturers, millers, and the […] Read more
Prairie crops had a bit of everything in 2015
Drought in the western Prairies had a lot of people concerned about production last season, but the latest information suggests the crop was bigger and better quality than expected
Reading Time: 5 minutes You can see it in the numbers — the StatsCan canola numbers that is. In August the agency predicted 2015 canola production at 13.3 million tonnes. By October that number had risen to 14.3 million tonnes and one industry watcher says it could be headed even higher. David Drozd of market advisory Ag-Chieve told Country […] Read more
Trends for 2016: Pulses expected to steal acres from cereals
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — Canadian farmers are expected to seed more pulse crops at the expense of cereals in 2016, according to early projections from industry experts looking at current market trends. “Definitely we’ll see an increase in pulse crop acreage,” said Bruce Burnett, weather and crop specialist at G3 Canada. Lentils and peas are seeing […] Read more
China to let land lie fallow as grain stocks surge
Reading Time: 2 minutes Beijing/Reuters – China’s ruling Communist Party has for the first time proposed to let land lie fallow in some areas to ease pressure on exhausted water and land resources while grain stocks are near record levels, state media reported on Wednesday. After years of excessive cultivation and bumper grain harvests, China is facing severe shortages […] Read more
Cereals North America: W. Canada to see marketing shifts
Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg/Commodity News Service Canada – Crops in Western Canada saw a range of weather conditions this year, resulting in lower production and higher protein. That means there will be a marketing shift next year, according to Bruce Burnett, weather and crop specialist with G3 Canada (formerly CWB), speaking at a Cereals North America conference in […] Read more
New in winter cereal crops
A few tough years for winter wheat have led to some great new opportunities
Reading Time: 3 minutes Planting conditions in the falls of 2013 and 2014 were difficult, to say the least. Only 800,000 acres of winter wheat were planted in 2013 (with roughly 675,000 acres harvested last year) and about 600,000 acres planted last fall. Early assessments done in the spring labelled many of those fields as, at best, “decent.” Winter […] Read more
NW Sask. sees patchy canola, better cereals
Reading Time: 2 minutes Spring has been tough on many canola crops in northwestern Saskatchewan. “Canola — it’s kind of hit and miss. They’re just all over the place,” said Stephanie McMillan, an agronomist with AgriTeam Services at Glaslyn, Sask., about 90 km south of Meadow Lake. One field might have some plants at the two- to four-leaf stage, […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
