Dozens of prospective varieties are sampled for milling and baking characteristics before they can be recommended to become part of a Canadian wheat class.

Showing how new wheat varieties perform

Cigi represents the end-use customer at the table when new varieties are being considered for registration

Reading Time: 3 minutes Last February the Prairie Grain Development Committee recommended registration of crop lines that included 27 new wheat varieties. Technical staff from the Canadian International Grains Institute participated on quality evaluation teams involved in the recommendations, representing end-use interests of customers of Canadian grains from around the world. “The annual meeting is designed to evaluate data […] Read more


(Jack Dykinga photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Minogue: Wanna start a cereal seed company?

Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s clear from where the Prairies’ cereal growers’ groups sit that it’s time for farmers to get more involved in wheat and barley breeding — and they have a new report in hand suggesting ways to do so. Options in the report, from the newly-formed Wheat and Barley Variety Working Group, range from improving the […] Read more

2 hearth breads showing different loaf volumes

Wheat quality conundrum

Changes to the marketing system make providing consistent shipments more difficult than under the days of the CWB

Reading Time: 4 minutes It was in 2012 that the first complaints began to trickle in. Buyers long accustomed to high-quality Canadian wheat started expressing disappointment in the quality of their shipments. From nearly a tonne of peas in a 25-tonne wheat shipment to lower-than-expected protein levels and grade divergences, over the next few years the first quiet questions […] Read more


durum wheat kernels

Developing new seed varieties for better crops

Reducing risk for the entire grain industry is key to variety development

Reading Time: 5 minutes It’s not easy growing grain for a living. Between bad weather, plant disease, insects, rising input costs and fluctuating markets, it can be tough to make a buck. That’s why new seed varieties are so important to Canadian wheat growers, says Ron DePauw, a senior wheat breeder with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s, Semi-Arid Prairie Agricultural […] Read more