The Canadian Grain Commission on Tuesday announced changes in store effective Aug. 1 for how Canadian wheat is graded, along with a list of clarifications and new housekeeping rules for the grading of other crops it regulates.

For one, the CGC will update its Official Grain Grading Guide’s definition of “severely sprouted” as a grading factor for western classes of wheat, following research on how far sprouting has to advance to affect end-use quality.

Under the current rule, a kernel of wheat is classified as “regular sprouted” if it has sprouts that are visible but still “within the contours of the germ.”

To be classified instead as “severely sprouted,” a kernel today must either be clearly “severely degenerated,” or clearly sprouted beyond the contour of the germ — or it must show signs of a sprout that’s broken or missing, whether with or without clear evidence of a sprout’s length or severity.

It’s been given that a kernel deemed “severely sprouted” contains a higher level of alpha-amylase than a “regular sprouted” kernel, which has negative impacts on the wheat’s falling number, which in turn is an indicator of the soundness of the grain.

But the research done last year and this year at the CGC’s Grain Research Laboratory found kernels of Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) and durum wheats that show a sprout broken or missing, without clear evidence of a sprout’s length or severity, had alpha-amylase activity and impact on falling number in the same range as in “regular sprouted” wheat, rather than the other forms of “severely sprouted” wheat.

Thus, starting Aug. 1, kernels of sprouted western wheats with sprouts broken or missing, but without any clear evidence of a sprout’s length or severity, will be redefined as “regular sprouted” rather than “severely sprouted.” The impact on end-use functionality, the lab found, was “similar to that of regular sprouted kernels.”

Tolerances

Among other changes scheduled to take effect Aug. 1, tolerances for test weight and total foreign material are being matched up in most classes of western wheat that until now had different tolerances for “primary” or “export” use.

Under the new rule, test weight and total foreign material tolerances will be aligned to the “export” tolerances for all grades of:

• Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS);
• Canada Western Hard White Spring (CWHWS);
• Canada Western Extra Strong (CWES);
• Canada Western Soft White Spring (CWSWS); and
• Canada Northern Hard Red (CNHR) wheats.

On a related note, total foreign material “primary” and “export” tolerances for Canada Western Amber Durum (CWAD) wheat will also be lined up to the “export” tolerances for all grades.

An “export” tolerance is used when grain is destined for a market overseas and is shipped out of the country through a terminal grain elevator. Such a tolerance is set based on research and is used to ensure milling quality expectations are met for end-use customers, the CGC said Tuesday.

A “primary” tolerance, meanwhile, is set lower than an export tolerance; it’s used when grain is delivered directly to a primary grain elevator within Canada.

Sieves

Among other changes taking effect in the Grain Grading Guide starting Aug. 1, the process for determination of dockage, in the canola chapter, will clarify the process and the different-sized sieves that should be used.

That change, the CGC said, comes in the wake of concerns raised by producers about “inconsistencies in the process used at delivery.”

The guide’s definition of “processed sample” will also be updated in all chapters, in the wake of issues with samples submitted to the CGC for official grades from which dockage was already removed.

The guide will also see adjustment to the composition of dockage to include insect parts, and the definition for insect parts will be adjusted in the lentils, beans, chickpeas and fababeans chapters.

Also, in the canary seed chapter, the composition of dockage will be adjusted to include the percentage of hulled seeds in dockage, and the definition of foreign material and hulled seeds will be adjusted accordingly. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Rains and heavy dew have slowed the harvest and, worse, caused mature, un-harvested wheat kernels in some areas to begin to sprout, severely damaging quality and triggering steep discounts from grain buyers of US$1 or more per bushel.

“It’s really bad news in a year like this, when commodity prices are so low to begin with,” said Joel Ransom, an agronomist with North Dakota State University in Fargo.

Farmers in North Dakota, by far the largest U.S. spring wheat producer, have already endured low prices for soybeans, the state’s top-grossing crop. Soy surpluses in North Dakota and elsewhere have ballooned due to several years of bumper harvests coupled with slowing export demand as the U.S trade war with top soy buyer China enters its second year.

Hard red spring wheat, grown in the northern Plains and milled into flour for bagels, pizza dough and for blending with lesser grades of wheat, typically represents about 20-30 per cent of the total U.S. wheat harvest.

U.S. and world wheat supplies remain ample overall, but the quality problems may lift cash prices for the best grades of wheat sought by millers.

North Dakota’s spring wheat was 73 per cent harvested by Sunday (Sept. 15). Crops still standing due to weather delays — some 86 million bushels — are likely to have the poorest quality.

“We’ve had enough rains coming through that anything is out there now, or that has been recently harvested, has probably been challenged,” Ransom said.

In Canada, the wheat harvest is less advanced. Farmers had gathered 13 per cent of Saskatchewan’s spring wheat crop as of Monday, the province said in a weekly report. Harvest progress for all crops in the province totaled 23 per cent, half the five-year average pace of 50 per cent.

The top grades of U.S. and Canadian spring wheat “just are not going to be available in the same volumes,” said Chuck Penner, analyst at Winnipeg-based LeftField Commodity Research. He added that the weather was also causing problems for durum wheat, used to make pasta.

“Durum is looking awful too… Half the crop might end up essentially going to the feed market. We are just starting to see the (market) reaction,” Penner said.

Benchmark December spring wheat futures on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange have climbed about eight per cent since hitting a contract low on Sept. 3, as the quality problems were beginning to emerge.

— Julie Ingwersen is a Reuters commodities correspondent in Chicago.

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The Canadian Grain Commission on Monday put out a call for “grain sector stakeholders” to submit their views before May 10 on a proposal for falling number and deoxynivalenol (DON) to both become official grain grading factors.

Testing for falling number and for DON has “escalated” in importance “due to increasing buyer demand for wheat purchases by specification,” the CGC said in its consultation document.

Both of those specifications “increasingly play a critical role in grain contracts and the assessment and price that grain sector participants, including producers, receive for their grain.”

Also, advances in technology now allow direct testing for both characteristics, using methods that “are increasingly accessible to the sector,” the CGC said.

The commission, in its consultation, wants to know whether stakeholders support use of falling number and DON as grading factors, and what the impacts would be for those stakeholders if those factors are added.

From the grower’s standpoint, adding falling number and DON as official grading factors could lead to “greater price transparency,” the CGC said.

Producers have no visual means of assessing falling number or DON values themselves, “but these specifications often play a critical role in the assessment of, and price received for, grain deliveries.”

A falling number test, done by passing a plunger through a sample of ground wheat mixed with water, is used to gauge sprout damage in wheat by measuring viscosity — an indicator of elevated levels of the enzyme alpha-amylase.

The level of alpha-amylase in wheat kernels rises in response to hormones triggered by germination and leads to lower viscosity and a lower falling number. A falling number of around 300 seconds shows wheat is of sound end-use quality for most milling, bread baking and pasta making processes.

For official grading purposes, the CGC instead visually assesses whether grain is sprouted or severely sprouted as “rapid, low-cost proxies” for alpha-amylase activity or falling number.

Apart from the official grade, however, the grain industry often uses falling number as a specification in sales contracts with buyers of Canadian wheat. Visual assessment of sprout damage alone doesn’t accurately reflect actual alpha-amylase levels in grain, the CGC said.

DON, or vomitoxin, is produced in grain infected by certain types of fusarium head blight, a fungal disease of wheat, barley, oats, rye, and corn which produces shrivelled, chalky white kernels.

For official grading, the CGC visually inspects grain for fusarium-damaged kernels (FDK) to gauge DON levels. FDK, however, isn’t a precise predictor of DON levels and “may not ensure sufficient accuracy for grain contracts with defined DON specifications,” the commission said in its consultation document.

In the document, the CGC proposes to add falling number as an official grading factor and set a minimum falling number level that applies to all grades within a class. It would also consider removing the existing “sprouted” and “severely sprouted” kernel official grading factors.

The commission also proposes to add DON as an official grading factor with a maximum allowable level that applies to all grades within a class. FDK would remain an official grading factor, though, since fusarium has “other significant end-use quality impacts” apart from DON level.

Falling number and DON grading factors “would not take precedence over other official grading factors,” the commission proposes. Other grading factors such as mildew, frost and percentage of hard vitreous kernels (HVK) “would continue to apply.”

Before any official changes are made to CGC grading factors, the Eastern and Western Standards Committees would also be required to conduct “a careful review and consideration,” the commission said.

Some grain sector groups have pressed for years to add DON and falling number measurements in official grading. The Alberta Wheat Commission made such a request in 2016.

“We may not be getting paid for the quality that we are getting if you’re not measuring those things because we are using (visual) proxies” instead of objective measurements, Kevin Auch, AWC’s chair at the time, told the Manitoba Co-operator.

“We don’t want them to do anything that is impossible, but there is an objective measure for something that millers do care about and feeders too (when it comes to DON).” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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“Prices are below expectations, and in some instances quality is below what the market is willing to accept at this point,” said Ryan McKnight, merchandising manager for Linear Grain at Carman, Man.

Most quality issues stem from northern Saskatchewan, where producers are seeing sprouting and groat damage, which in some cases has resulted in rejected rail cars, he said.

“The industry needs to sort out what they can and can’t use,” he said. “Some buyers have tolerances for certain amounts of that, and others don’t.”

Manitoba has seen an uptick in local farmer selling as the province has moved past psychological pricing triggers — “but not a whole lot of out of Saskatchewan at this point,” McKnight said. “Oat marketing has been a little slower than we would like.”

Delivered elevator oat prices fall between $2.37 and $2.67 in Saskatchewan, $2.87 and $3.10 in Manitoba, and $2.70 and $3.16 in Alberta, according to Prairie Ag Hotwire.

“We’re a little way away from what producers would like at this point,” McKnight said.

Slower than expected movement out of Western Canada has also been reflected in stronger Minneapolis basis prices, said Randy Strychar, a Vancouver-based oat market analyst at Ag Commodity Research.

The March Minneapolis basis level for oats is between 10 to 55 cents above the futures, according to a USDA report.

“It’s resulting in higher prices across Western Canada, because as you move the basis levels up higher it pushes the flat prices up higher,” Strychar said.

— Jade Markus writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Winnipeg company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.

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“They’re (prices) below what farmers like… having trouble breaking that $3 a bushel level in Manitoba and $2.50 in Saskatchewan,” said Ryan McKnight of Linear Grain at Carman, Man.

So far, he said, very few oats have been priced by commercial players when one looks at the deliveries from farmers. “So it seems they’re going into the bins.”

The basis is higher right now, according to McKnight, but with a large supply, he believes someone will step up sooner or later.

“Eventually somebody will come to play.”

Another issue that bears watching is water damage. McKnight said at least one crop in northern Saskatchewan has already seen some sprouting.

“They’ll take the sprouts as dockage, because the sprouts shatter when they’re dehulled,” he said.

End-users are basically covered until January, McKnight said, so there is time to sort through these issues.

Still, he said he doesn’t expect producers will start moving supplies for a bit.

“They’ll eat through their space before they’ll pay high basis,” he said.

— Dave Sims writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Winnipeg company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.

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Shannon Friesen, a regional crops specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture in Moose Jaw, said recent rains have delayed harvest and stalled maturity in some crops.

Producers have found peas and canola shattering out of pods, she said. Some cereals in the province have also been sprouting due to moisture, and pulses have seen bleaching.

“So a few problems, of course — lodging and that sort of thing as well,” Friesen said.

Despite those issues, she said, most crops still appear to be in good shape.

However, harvest has been stalled as producers wait for their fields to dry.

“Hopefully the rain that we got over the weekend will only delay them a couple of days. Most probably expect to be back in the field mid- to late this week,” Friesen said.

Looking forward, parts of Saskatchewan are expected to see favourable harvest weather, with minimal chances of rain. Many parts of the province are looking at weather in the low 20s (Celsius), according to Environment Canada.

“Impact on harvest”

Manitoba has seen similar conditions to Saskatchewan, with rains stalling harvest and causing crop damage. Most areas across the province reported some precipitation starting Friday and throughout the weekend.

Areas in the province’s southwest saw 15 to 75 millimetres of precipitation, Northwestern areas saw up to 25 mm, and 10 to 85 mm fell in central regions.

Eastern regions were hit hardest, with anywhere from 25 to 175 mm.

“Of course when you talk those amounts of precipitation that’s going to have an impact on harvest, and the ability of producers to be out in the fields,” said Pam de Rocquigny, special crops agronomist with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development in Carman.

How soon producers can return to their fields depends on the amount of rain in their area, and the conditions fields were in prior.

Farmers in Teulon and the Interlake have also reported canola shattering. “That can have an impact on producers’ yield as well,” de Rocquigny said.

As in Saskatchewan, Manitoba should see fairly sunny weather moving forward, and de Rocquigny said producers made decent progress on harvest before it rained. “Little bit of good news and bad news.”

–– Jade Markus writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Winnipeg company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting. Follow her at @jade_markus on Twitter.

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