Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 101 Page 102 Page 103 Page 104 Page 105 Page 106 Page 107 Page 108 Page 109 Page 110 Page 111 Page 112 Page 113 Page 114 Page 115 Page 116Wheat Class Changes The Canadian Grain Commission recently implemented the first phase of its wheat class modernization process. We examine what these changes will mean for the seed industry and how it will have to adapt. Wheat Class Modernization Process Moving Forward AFTER more than a year of prepara- tion and consultations with stakeholder groups across the country, the Canadian Grain Commission’s (CGC) plan for mod- ernizing Canada’s wheat class system is now a reality. The first phase of that plan took effect Aug. 1. Two new wheat classes were introduced – Canada Northern Hard Red (CNHR) and Canada Western Special Purpose (CWSP); and three wheat classes were eliminated – Canada Western Interim Wheat (CWIW), Canada Western General Purpose (CWGP) and Canada Western Feed (CWF). In addition, more than two dozen varieties were moved from the CWIW and CWGP classes to the two new classifications. A second wave of designation changes will come into effect Aug. 1, 2018. That’s when 25 varieties will be moved from Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) to the new CNHR class and four others will be shifted from the Canada Prairie Spring Red (CPSR) class to CNHR. It’s the first time Canada’s wheat industry has undergone this kind of top- to-bottom modernization since the early 1970s. It’s being implemented in response to concerns expressed by some interna- tional customers, including Japan, that the gluten strength of certain Canadian varieties has declined and to tighten qual- ity parameters for the CWRS class. Daryl Beswitherick, the CGC’s program manager for quality assurance stand- ards, says the changes will provide more options to growers and end users while protecting the CWRS brand in interna- tional markets. “We needed to make a move to be able to tighten the parameters for the Canada Western Red Spring class and the 8 www.seed.ab.ca | Advancing Seed in Alberta decision was made to create a new class (CNHR) to allow flexibility for producers to continue to grow the varieties that are going to transition into CNHR,” he says. Beswitherick says the commission is making every effort to inform members of the wheat industry what the changes Photo courtesy Canadian Grain Commission On Aug. 1, 2018, Lillian will move from CWRS to the new CNHR class. Photo courtesy Alberta Wheat Commission