Although malting barley once yielded significantly less than higher-yielding feed types, this has now changed. 

“There’s been a pretty large increase in yield,” says Andrew Hector, cereal crop extension specialist with the Manitoba Crop Alliance. Newer varieties now produce yields close to CDC Austin, the top feed variety, he added. 

As a result farmers growing barley for feed are increasingly opting to grow a malting variety, even if it’s just to keep the door open to getting that malting barley premium, which can be as high as $3 per bushel, Hector says. 

But he says one of the biggest advantages of growing barley is that it gives farmers more control come harvest time. 

“It helps you space out your harvest if equipment or personnel constraints limit your options, offering more time management flexibility,” he says. 

Speaking to attendees at the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre’s CMBTC Producer Malt Academy course in Winnipeg last fall, Hector notes malting barley fits roughly into the same slot as wheat in a rotation. 

“Barley planted after cereal saw relatively low yield compared to something like canola,” he says, adding that in Manitoba over half of barley acres were planted into canola stubble.

Variety selection 

A good starting place for variety selection is the CMBTC’s annual Malting Barley Recommended Varieties list. 

Established varieties like AAC Synergy and CDC Copeland remain farmer favourites, while newer varieties such as AAC Connect, CDC Fraser, and CDC Churchill are quickly gaining in popularity. As mentioned, these new varieties are high-yielding, but also have better disease resistance and straw strength.

READ ALSO: New cereals on deck for 2025

“Some of the older varieties have poor lodging (resistance), and they didn’t stand as well, but lodging has vastly improved with these new varieties,” Hector says. 

The CMBTC recommends growers talk to their malting, grain, or seed company representatives to discuss options for growing malting barley. Farmers should also consult their provincial seed guide.

READ ALSO: New malting barley variety acceptance an uphill battle

Varietal purity 

Brewers demand variety purity in order to ensure consistency for their products. Shawn Pasieczka, a food safety grain specialist with Richardson International, said Richardson requests a minimum of 95 per cent purity and tests for it. To meet those standards, he recommends using certified seed.  

While Pasieczka says it’s possible to replant seed saved from previous crops, he warned that some buyers require certified seed. Even if the grower works with a company that doesn’t require certified seed, he recommended retesting the seed to ensure purity, and not to plant seed more than two years beyond certification. 

Seeding dates 

Generally, the recommended dates for planting barley depend on the region and variety, but generally they fall between late April and the end of May. 

READ ALSO: Critical factors in growing malting barley

“Seeding early is important if you want to maximize yield,” Hector says, but adds that the timing of seeding also impacts qualities such as protein levels and kernel uniformity and plumpness, which are important to malting companies. 

According to the CMBTC, North American brewers prefer protein levels between 10 and 11.5 per cent, while Chinese brewers accept slightly higher levels, up to 13 per cent. 

Seeding rates 

Hector says the recommended target plant population for malting barley is 22 to 25 plants per square foot. He points to research done by now-retired AAFC crop scientist John O’Donovan that showed that as seeding rate increased, kernel plumpness and protein concentration decreased. 

“They found that 300 seeds per metre squared was the optimum seeding rate for yield and malt quality,” Hector says. 

Nutrient levels 

A 2022 fertilizer use survey showed that nearly all malt barley growers applied nitrogen, typically as urea or anhydrous ammonia. 

When making nitrogen rate decisions for malt barley, growers should consult with their agronomists to ensure they’re getting the levels right. The CMBTC recommends soil testing to check nutrient levels. 

“There is a balancing act to determining how much nitrogen you should apply,” Hector says. “You need it to reach optimum yield, but excessive nitrogen risks higher than optimum protein levels.” 

Diseases 

The main diseases barley growers must contend with are scald, fusarium head blight and spot blotch. Disease levels depend on geography. Variety disease packages and cultural control methods can help, but at one point or another, a fungicide application could be necessary, and the proper timing of that application is critical. 

“Barley is a little different than wheat in terms of flower timing,” Hector explains. “The label recommendation is typically between 70 and 100 per cent of heads fully emerged on the main stem to three days post head emergence.” 

But Hector warns that heads that haven’t emerged will not have made contact with the fungicide and won’t have the coverage. So, he recommended trying to get as close to 100 per cent of heads emerged as possible. 

Crop protection products 

Malting barley has very strict standards when it comes to residue from crop protection products. Growers should check with the KeepItClean.ca campaign’s annual Product Advisory to ensure they don’t encounter market access issues when selling their grain. 

Products restricted for malt barley include the fungicides fluopyram and tetraconazole, the plant growth regulator chlormequat, and the herbicides glyphosate and saflufenacil. 

The post Fitting malting barley in your rotation appeared first on Grainews.

The project’s origins can be traced to the extremely dry year of 2021, which left many producers in the province’s eastern Lakeland region in need of feed and water resources. Canola crops withered, yielding as little as 30 per cent of normal, and overgrazed pastures produced less in the following year.

Many livestock producers turned to novel feeds and grazing annuals in 2021 when drought withered pastures and normal forage sources failed to produce.

Winter cereals sown in fall have proven their value in providing early-season grazing in spring. But that comes with a catch: the crops move into reproductive stage relatively soon, so quality and production decline beyond July.

Early spring-seeded winter cereals remain in the vegetative stage throughout the summer and fall, improving biomass, maintaining nutritional quality and creating more chances for grazing, Alyssa Krawchuk of the Lakeland Agricultural Research Association (LARA) wrote in an email.

These grazing opportunities can begin in early June and extend into September.

Having more grazing periods in a growing season is just the start. An additional harvest opportunity and forage quality improvement were two more highlights of the early-seeding approach.

Early seeding also resulted in greater biomass production, which Krawchuk says could make or break an operation during dry or drought conditions when feed sources are scarce. Having that extra biomass can give perennial pastures the chance to rest and regenerate, reducing the need for producers to buy dry feed or rent other pastures.

“The year after a drought, this could be used as a method to defer grazing on drought-stressed pastures until later in the grazing season and provide more rest for these pastures throughout the summer.”

Early winter wheat seeding also seems to increase crude protein levels in feed compared to regularly-timed counterparts. The tactic can create more grazing days and reduce production costs while maintaining adequate feed quality and quantity.

“Furthermore, by seeding early, the winter cereals can take advantage of any early growing season moisture that might occur before regular seeding dates,” Krawchuk says.

“In addition, seeding cereals early in the spring allows for capture of early-season moisture through snow melt that may not be available in dry and drought conditions later in May when cereals are normally seeded.”

The research project took place at the LARA Fort Kent research site, southwest of Cold Lake in the Municipal District of Bonnyville. The “ultra-early” seeding date was April 29, 2022, in a soil temperature of 2 C. The regular seeding date was May 27, 2022, more or less within the normal seeding schedule for the region, in a 12 C soil temperature.

Wheat was harvested when each variety was an average of 30 centimetres high and cut to two inches. Regrowth was harvested throughout the summer and fall once it reached 30 cm.

Due to dry soil conditions at the time, varieties of winter cereals were seeded to a depth of 1.5 inches. Six treatments included two varieties of winter triticale (Metzger and Luoma) and two each of winter wheat (Pintale and Wildfire) and fall rye (Prima and Hazlet). Plots were 1.15 metres wide by 7.5 metres long with a minimum harvested area of six square metres.

There was little difference in first harvest timing between the two treatments. Both were between seven and eight weeks after planting. Early-seeded regrowth was harvested in three weeks. The third harvest occurred seven weeks later, with regular-seeded regrowth harvested seven weeks after the first harvest.

The early-seeded treatment produced more total yield than the regular-seeded treatment. Hazlet fall rye and Luoma winter triticale were the top-yielding varieties. The former produced about 0.67 tonnes per acre of dry matter forage yield whether seeded in the early and regular categories.

The lowest-yielding cereal was Metzger winter triticale with about 0.32 tonnes per acre of forage yield with the early-seeded treatment and just a little higher with the regularly timed seeding.

Although there was some difference in crude protein among varieties, the early-seeded cereals sported higher crude protein and the first harvest had higher crude protein than the subsequent harvest.

Wildfire winter wheat, for example, produced 28.25 per cent crude protein in the early-seeded set while the same variety scored 24.74 per cent with the regularly-seeded treatment.

The number of total digestible nutrients was much higher in the first harvest than those thereafter. However, they did not differ by variety or seeding date.

‘No. 1 question’

There are risks to planting cereals so early, but they may not be the ones producers first think of, Krawchuk says.

“Frost tends to be the No. 1 question when proposing early-seeded cereals to local producers. However, cereal crops have been shown to withstand temperatures as low as -8 C for a short period without detrimental impacts on growth and productivity.”

A bigger challenge when seeding winter cereals in low soil temperatures is the capacity of fields to hold the weight of seeding equipment.

“This is heavily dependent on soil type and moisture, which tends to be more of an issue the further north you go in Alberta where more clay type soils dominate.”

Although the 2022 project was intended to develop guidance for cereal producers in northeastern Alberta, LARA plans to take this show on the road.

With new funding from Results Driven Agriculture Research hopefully in hand, Krawchuk and her team plan to expand the trial to Oyen, Fairview and Fort Vermilion.

“We feel it is imperative to run this trial in different eco-regions of the province as varying agroclimatic conditions will have an impact on the biomass produced and the number of harvests achieved.”

The basic concept of the pending projects will remain the same — with some differences.

“The trial now includes three varieties of each winter wheat, winter triticale and fall rye and will be compared to an annual cereal commonly grown for feed. In addition, we will be working with economist Kathy Larson from the University of Saskatchewan to provide producers with a cost-benefit analysis for the project.”

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But like most things in farming, a lot depends on the weather. Less nitrogen equalled more profits in trials done in 2023 because it was a dry growing season.

“When you are reducing your nitrogen rates… by 15 per cent, we did find it was economical to have those reductions,” said Jessica Enns, research manager with the Western Applied Research Corporation, which is part of the Saskatchewan Agri-ARM network.

The network has a mandate to transfer technology from research to farmers and evaluate the economics of technology.

In 2023, researchers from the East Central Research Foundation at Yorkton led a project looking at oat profitability at four locations in Saskatchewan: Outlook, Melfort, Prince Albert and Yorkton. The trial at Outlook was irrigated, while the others were not.

The research project was supported by SaskOats, which wanted trial data on reducing rates of nitrogen fertilizer by 15 and 30 per cent and what that means for profitability.

Most oat growers apply about 90 pounds per acre of nitrogen fertilizer to the crop annually, Enns said.

That delivers about 120 lbs. to the crop, assuming the soil contains 30 lb. of residual nitrogen.

Over the last few years, there’s been more discussion about cutting the amount of nitrogen per acre because the federal government has set a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from fertilizer by 30 per cent by 2030.

That target was one reason for the SaskOats project: to understand the implications of reducing nitrogen rates on oats.

Unfortunately, 2023 was an abnormal growing season in Saskatchewan, so the results were a bit wonky. One of the trial sites, in Melfort, normally receives 228 millimetres of moisture from May to the end of August.

In 2023, 124 mm of precipitation was recorded.

“It was a very dry year … so we didn’t see a huge response to nitrogen,” Enns said.

The economic analysis was based on a price of oats of $5.25 per bushel and a fertilizer cost of 82 cents per pound of nitrogen.

Using those numbers, the researchers found:

• Cutting nitrogen by 15 per cent at the dryland sites increased net revenue by $17-$28 per acre, depending on the evaluation method.
• At Outlook, revenue jumped by $4-$9 per acre.

“In conclusion, reducing 125 lbs. (soil + fertilizer N) by 15 per cent was economical at all sites under the conditions of this study,” the research report says.

However, the results also showed cutting nitrogen rates by 30 per cent was not beneficial at Outlook.

“(It) reduced net returns by about $20 per acre at the high-yielding Outlook site.”

The results suggest growers could cut fertilizer rates and possibly increase profits if they know the growing season will be drier than normal.

However, it’s difficult to predict the growing conditions for a particular year.

“There isn’t a farmer out there that wouldn’t want to reduce their costs and make more money,” Enns said.

“There is a lot of research going into… where can we find those cost savings. Is it varietal-specific? Is it region-specific?”

Decisions around rates of fertilizer often boil down to risk management.

If prices for a particular crop are high, a grower might be reluctant to cut rates. No one wants to compromise yield and profits because the crop ran out of nitrogen.

“If you receive quite a bit of moisture, then you’re missing out on $20-$30 per acre (or more).”

Enns will present the full results of the Oats N Response study at the Prairie Oat Growers Association annual general meeting and conference, scheduled for Dec. 4 in Banff.

The post Cutting N on oats can pay off, if it’s drier appeared first on Grainews.

Please note the following list includes only brand-new variety releases for 2025.

READ MORE: New tools could speed up development of cereal varieties

Alliance Seed

CWRS: CDC Envy is an early-maturity, semi-dwarf spring wheat with high yield potential, yielding 14 per cent more than the check cultivar average in the 2018-2020 Parkland Cooperative Wheat Trials. CDC Envy offers good lodging resistance as well as excellent protection against sprouting. It also delivers reliable disease defence, with intermediate tolerance to fusarium head blight (FHB) and stem rust, moderate resistance to stripe rust and resistance to leaf rust.

Canterra Seeds

Barley: AAC Lariat is a two-row feed barley with very high yield potential, yielding four per cent more on average than CDC Austenson. This variety has short strong straw and excellent standability and produces plumper seeds and higher test weight compared to check varieties. AAC Lariat’s maturity and feed quality tested as good or better than check varieties and it has a good disease protection package as well, making it suitable for all feed barley-growing areas.

Triticale: TriCal Surge TM is an awnless forage spring triticale variety with excellent yield potential. TriCal Surge TM is suitable for all areas where forage crops are grown, and it provides excellent nutritional quality for dairy and beef rations. It has a shorter stature and very good straw strength and offers a good disease resistance package similar to existing commercial forage varieties.

FP Genetics

CWRS: AAC Darby is an awned, hollow-stemmed spring wheat offering high yields equal to AAC Viewfield and AAC Brandon. This midge-tolerant variety has very early maturity that is five days earlier than AC Carberry and one day earlier than Parata, and it also features good protein similar to AC Carberry. AAC Darby has good lodging resistance as well as a solid disease resistance package that includes a resistant rating for leaf rust and stripe rust, a moderately resistant rating for stem rust and an intermediate rating for FHB.

Oat: CDC Anson is a white milling oat with very short plant height and very good lodging resistance and standability. It has excellent milling characteristics that include high plump percentages, low thins, excellent groat percentage, high beta-glucan content and total dietary fibre content. CDC Anson also offers excellent yield potential, yielding four per cent more that AC Morgan and three per cent more than CS Camden.

Proven Seed

CWRS: CDC Imbue CL is the newest Clearfield Plus wheat in the Proven Seed portfolio. This earlier-maturing, semi-dwarf variety has a compact plant height and offers increased yield and protein compared to other Clearfield lines. CDC Imbue CL also features a solid defensive package that includes a resistant rating for leaf rust and stripe rust and a moderately-resistant rating for FHB.

CPSR: AAC Camrose VB is a midge-tolerant variety that is the highest yielding wheat across the Proven Seed portfolio. It has excellent standability as well as an excellent disease protection package, with a resistant rating for stem rust, leaf rust, stripe rust, loose smut and bunt.

SeCan

CWRS: AAC Spike is an exceptionally short-strawed red spring wheat with an earlier maturity than AAC Brandon. It has an excellent disease protection package, with a resistant rating for leaf rust, stem rust and stripe rust and a moderately resistant rating for FHB. AAC Spike also has good resistance to sprouting and is well suited for areas where straw management is a concern.

CPSR: AAC Westlock is a variety well suited to the traditional CPSR wheat-growing areas in central Alberta. It has high yield potential, yielding eight per cent more than AAC Brandon and five per cent more than AAC Penhold. AAC Westlock features a moderately-resistant rating for FHB and a resistant rating for leaf rust, stem rust and stripe rust. It also has good resistance to sprouting.

CWSP: Alotta is a red-seeded wheat suitable for feed, forage or ethanol. This variety has exceptionally high yield potential, yielding 27 per cent more than AAC Brandon on average. Alotta is rated moderately susceptible to FHB, but is rated as resistant to leaf rust, stem rust and stripe rust. It also has a very good rating for lodging.

CWRW: AAC Overdrive is an early-maturing red winter wheat well suited to all growing areas in Western Canada. Maturing five days earlier than AAC Wildfire, AAC Overdrive has an excellent disease defence package, with a moderately-resistant rating for FHB and leaf rust and a resistant rating for stripe rust and stem rust.

Barley: CDC Durango is a two-row feed barley with very good lodging resistance, strong straw and high yield potential. This variety has four per cent more yield compared to CDC Austenson and has 12 per cent more yield and is five centimetres shorter than CDC Copeland.

Oat: ORe BOOST is a forage oat with improved tonnage and quality compared to CDC Haymaker. It is also shorter and has stronger straw than CDC Haymaker, which makes for an easier harvest. It is a late-maturing variety, which provides a wider forage harvest window as well.

ORe BOOST has an upright leaf structure that promotes leaf retention and aids in compatibility with other species in forage blends. It is rated as susceptible to both leaf and stem rust.

It will also carry a Variety Use Agreement (VUA), with royalties going back to plant breeder Jim Dyck at Oat Advantage to support future breeding efforts in feed/forage oats.

The post New cereals on deck for 2025 appeared first on Grainews.

Barley and oats are grown primarily in the cooler regions of the Prairies and will benefit from a longer growing season. Durum, meanwhile, is primarily grown in the southern Prairies and growers will be more concerned about increased temperatures during that region’s growing season. Spring wheat, grown all across the Prairie region, will benefit from the extended growing season in northern regions. Winter wheat production may be challenged by a lack of protective snow cover in the winter. All these factors will need to be examined in looking at the impact of climate change on cereals.

Many studies have examined changes to the climate in Western Canada over the past couple of decades. A review of the research on climate change in the agricultural growing regions in Canada was conducted by Mapfumo et al. in the Canadian Journal in Plant Science in 2023. The authors examined the research to date of the parameters that are important to producing crops.

Of the factors examined in the review, the three most critical parameters for cereal production are growing season precipitation; growing season length; and air temperatures during the growing season. The research indicates changes in all three parameters have occurred over the past 100 years.

Every farmer knows precipitation is the critical element for producing crops on the Prairies. The weather during the past two growing seasons certainly proves the point that “rain makes grain.” Research indicates growing season precipitation has increased since 1900. In Alberta’s agricultural region, it has increased by 18 mm over the period beginning in 1900. In another study, Prairie rainfall was found to have increased by 39.2 mm over the growing season in the period from 1956 to 1995. The increase in precipitation is welcome news for cereal crop production in the coming years. Wheat, barley, oats and durum will benefit from additional moisture in the growing season.

An increase in moisture during the growing season, though, would increase disease pressure in cereal crops. Common cereal crop diseases will be enhanced by the increased moisture. Insect pressure should also increase under warmer, wetter growing conditions and increased temperatures.

Growing season length is the second most critical factor in producing crops in Western Canada. This is particularly true for wheat crops, but barley and oats will also see yield increases from an extended growing season. The northern growing regions will see the largest benefit of a longer growing season. Western Canada has seen its growing season increase by between three and 12 days, using data from 1920 to 2020. Frost dates have also changed in Western Canada, with the median spring frost earlier by 11.1 days and fall frost dates later by 9.4 days. A longer growing season also adds yield potential for cereal crops. The extension of the frost dates in the fall should also improve crop quality. This would be critical for barley and oat crops grown in the northern grain belt but would also benefit wheat crops in the north.

The heat experienced over the past two growing seasons has certainly brought temperatures to the forefront, in terms of risk to crops. The maximum air temperatures have been increasing by between 2.4 and 3.6 C during the period from 1950 to 2010. The increase in maximum temperatures is probably the largest concern for cereal production in the future. Although the temperatures during the growing season are expected to be higher than current levels, wheat, barley and oat crops grown in northern regions should not see significant yield reductions. Heat will be of more concern for southern wheat and durum crops, which could see more significant yield reductions from the increase in maximum temperatures.

Winter wheat production will be impacted by reductions in snow cover and snow depth in the future. Western Canada has seen a decrease of 30.7 cm of annual snowfall from 1951 to 2004. Snow depth was also lowered by four cm from 1948 to 2012. Winter wheat production on the Prairies is dependent on snow cover to protect crops from winterkill. Ironically, a warmer climate may result in increased winterkill potential.

In conclusion: climate change is expected to have a mostly positive impact on cereal production in Western Canada during the coming years. The net benefit of increased moisture and longer growing season will more than offset any negative impacts from increased disease and insect pressure. Grain quality is likely to improve in northern growing areas where the risk of frost is expected to decrease.

The post Payoffs and pressures for cereals in a changing Prairie climate appeared first on Grainews.

Francois Eudes is the director of research, development and technology for the science and technology branch at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) at Lethbridge. As part of his role, he oversees AAFC’s breeding, innovation and crop germplasm development.

Eudes says a big part of the multigenerational approach to breeding new varieties of cereal crops such as wheat and barley is eliminating offspring that won’t perform at sufficiently high levels.

“The selection process is much more about the elimination of poor genetics among the sister lines. We’re going to eliminate the poor-performing one under selection for some traits and move the better one to the next generation where another selection is going to be done,” he says.

The development of new cereal crop varieties is unique in comparison to most other crop types. Most of the crop breeding efforts in Western Canada are conducted by the public sector. That includes AAFC as well as post-secondary institutions such as the University of Saskatchewan, through its Crop Development Centre (CDC), the University of Alberta and the University of Saskatchewan.

In most cases, those institutions don’t directly commercialize the varieties they develop. Instead, they partner with stakeholders such as seed companies to commercialize those varieties through variety licensing agreements.

Curtis Pozniak, a professor and director of the CDC at the U of S, says it takes, on average, eight to 10 years to develop a new variety, which means breeders need to “have a bit of a crystal ball” when determining what the priorities need to be for future varieties.

The main areas of focus for breeders are typically yield and reliable yield performance in a range of different environments and soil types; disease and insect resistance; and tolerance to abiotic stresses such as drought and heat.

Marketability is another important consideration when developing new varieties of cereal crops, Pozniak adds.

“If you look at barley used in brewing, there’s a very specific quality profile that’s in demand by the industry and by the end-use customer. Likewise with wheat and durum, the quality profiles are very well defined in terms of what our customers are looking for,” he says.

“It’s all about developing the package of yield, reliability and marketability that’s most important, really pushing the yield envelope and having that combination of agronomic traits and pest-resistant traits that growers are demanding, while still maintaining that marketability and end-use quality.”

Like most crops, cereals have had to endure a wide range of severe weather conditions across Canada in the last several years, including drought and extended periods of extreme heat.

While that has been an important consideration when it comes to breeding efforts in cereals, it is not an entirely new breeding target. Pozniak says plant breeders have historically tested new cereal varieties in a wide range of conditions in order to select products that will perform well across a range of environments, and that continues to be the case.

“I wouldn’t say we’re necessarily focusing more on selecting for heat and drought tolerance. That has always been a breeding target, but the extreme heat and drought like we experienced this past summer have really provided us with the opportunity to evaluate those genetic combinations that do well,” he says.

Ellen Sparry, general manager of C&M Seeds at Palmerston, Ont., agrees. She recently came across a paper from the Canadian Journal of Research from 1936 referring to studies on drought resistance in spring wheat.

“It is always on a breeder’s radar to try and select the right varieties that combat drought and other climate challenges. That’s why we test varieties over several years before taking anything to commercialization,” she says.

That said, breeders are having to look at things in a slightly different, climate-induced light, she adds.

For example, changing climates have forced plant breeders to respond to shifts in disease. Sparry cited an example of a winter wheat her company developed that was wiped out in a single year due to leaf rust.

“It had good tolerance and then we had a shift one year and it was all but wiped out of the marketplace,” she says.

Eudes agrees climate change and extreme weather conditions are prompting plant breeders to look at some things in a new light. For crops such as wheat, he says that includes looking at varieties that have been grown in other countries to deal with even hotter and drier conditions and adapting that germplasm so those varieties can be successful here in Canada.

‘Nimble’

Plant breeding has traditionally been a marathon rather than a sprint, but some new tools have the potential to change that.

Gene editing technology has been around for some time but it’s still a relatively new concept in terms of Canadian agriculture. AAFC seeded the federal government’s first plots of gene-edited wheat in Lethbridge earlier this year.

Sparry says gene editing has the potential to be a game-changer when it comes to breeding new varieties of wheat and other cereal crops.

“I think it’s always on a breeder’s mind that they have to be nimble, which is not an easy thing to do in a breeding program,” she says. “Perhaps gene editing can get us there a little quicker. Hopefully, this is a goal that allows breeders to adapt a little bit quicker to changing situations.”

Tyler Groeneveld concurs. Groeneveld is the North American director of grains and oils for Corteva Agriscience. The company spends $4 million a day on research and development and, he says, a tool like gene editing has the potential to unlock a host of new opportunities.

“The advent of gene editing and our expertise with that particular modern plant breeding tool means that we’ll be able to identify and commercialize traits of interest and seed technology quicker than we would in the traditional biotechnology route to market,” he says.

Another relatively new tool that could help plant breeding efforts is phenomic selection. It’s a low-cost, high-throughput alternative to the use of genetic markers, employing spectral data to predict complex traits with statistical models that use software algorithms.

Eudes says phenomic technology is still relatively new here in Canada but has been in use in Europe for more than a decade already. In one example of its use, multiple data sets could be collected via drones to monitor a crop and predict its performance even before that crop has reached maturity.

“That way, a decision could be made earlier, either to continue the evaluation of the line or essentially eliminate that line,” he explains.

‘Diversification’

As these new tools and technologies continue to evolve, new varieties of cereal crops are being introduced into the developmental pipeline.

Earlier this year Corteva introduced its new Trusource wheat. Trusource is a high-fibre durum wheat that provides increased dietary fibre in everyday foods such as pasta. It’s currently available to food companies for trial in product development and will be released commercially to farmers sometime in the next few years.

“Trusource wheat will bring new nutritional innovation to wheat and … benefits compared to traditional wheat. It supports improved gut health and blood sugar management. It helps promote satiety (fullness),” Groeneveld says.

“It’s a very exciting opportunity when we look at market diversification and increase in value for a crop that Canada is known for — being a very high quality, reliable supplier in durum to the global market.”

AAFC is expected to announce its next set of co-op trials and which lines it will register following the Prairie Grain Development Committee’s meeting in February.

Eudes says one of the most promising cereal crops AAFC has in its developmental pipeline is a durum wheat that was developed in Swift Current. It has been shown to have intermediate resistance to fusarium head blight (FHB) — the first durum wheat in Canada to be so rated. It was registered in February 2023 and should be available to farmers within the next two years.

In addition, AAFC breeders are working on a new higher-performing variety of milling oat as a replacement for AC Morgan which, Eudes says, is getting “a bit old,” having been around since 1999.

The post New tools could speed up development of cereal varieties appeared first on Grainews.

The problem is, those premiums don’t come easily.

Shawn Pasieczka, a food safety grain specialist with Richardson, is the arbiter of what makes the cut and what doesn’t, and ultimately whether a farmer is sitting on $1 million of malt barley or $600,000 of feed. He recently explained the factors influencing barley selection to a group of farmers at the Canadian Malt Barley Technical Centre’s (CMBTC) Producer Malt Academy, held in Winnipeg.

Accurate samples

Pasieczka emphasized the most important step a farmer can take is ensuring the submitted sample accurately represents the entire crop.

“We need to know what that whole field looks like,” he says. “I’m looking at one kilogram to make a million-dollar deal, so that sample you give me better be what you’re actually going to deliver.”

Also, if the grain sits for an extended period, it can degrade, so he cautions farmers to re-sample the bin every six to eight weeks. If a sample meets the specifications in late summer but a load’s not delivered until the following spring, a lot can go wrong.

“Somewhere along the way, it heated, got bugs in it, or the germ dropped off,” he says. “We want to see that so we know for ourselves that you still have the malt that you said you had for us.”

Storage and handling

When storing grain, obviously you want to keep it dry. Once it gets wet, there is a risk of heating.

“The No. 1 thing when you harvest malt is to cool it down as quickly as you possibly can,” Pasieczka says. “If you can, we always recommend putting your malt on aeration.”

More generally, he says, it’s important to ensure the grain is protected from the elements.

“If you’ve got risk of any kind; if there’s spoilage, if bugs are getting in there, if we see anything like that, you’re going to be rejected,” Pasieczka warned. “If you tell me you’ve got a pile of barley in the field, it’s not malt; it’s feed. You’re going to have rabbits and goats and everything in there. Malt can’t have any excreta in it.”

Varietal purity

Different varieties will malt differently and produce different enzymes, so brewers demand variety purity, to ensure consistency for their products.

Richardson requests a minimum of 95 per cent purity — and tests for it, Pasieczka says.

“We will do a little bit of blending. So if you’re off by one or two per cent we’ll blend if we can, but anything lower than 92 per cent we’re automatically rejecting,” he says. “This is because we are selling it with a guarantee. The end users are saying we must have 95 per cent pure.”

While it is possible to re-grow your own seed, Pasieczka notes some companies require certified seed. Richardson doesn’t require certified seed, and neither do other big grain companies such as Viterra and Cargill — but for growers who use their own seed, he suggests retesting to ensure the purity is still there.

Germination

Germination is a critical part of the malting process because it activates enzymes that convert starches into fermentable sugars, which are crucial for fermentation and flavour development.

A simple test is done to determine whether a sample is viable. In a lab, 100 seeds are placed in a petri dish with four millilitres of water and kept at a constant temperature and high humidity. After three days, the germinated seeds are counted, and the number of seeds that germinate determines the viability of the sample.

Pasieczka says they test every sample that comes in, and anything lower than 95 per cent will likely be rejected. He warns this number can degrade over time.

“If you show me a sample in August at 95 per cent, you had better be hauling that in tomorrow, because it’s already dying,” he says. “By Christmas, it’s going to be 92, and by May, it’s going to be 90. It’s never going to come back to life.”

Protein

Protein in malting barley plays an important role in brewing because it supports enzyme production, flavour development and foam stability.

“If you have low protein, you don’t have enough nutrients to keep your yeast alive,” Pasieczka explains. “If you have high protein, you’re getting into issues with haze.”

Haze is caused by the presence of insoluble particles, affecting the beer’s clarity.

Pasieczka says the ideal range for protein is 10 to 12 per cent for domestic markets and 12-13.5 per cent for export markets.

“When we export to China, they’re blending it with a lot of Australian barley, which is typically down into like the nines and 10s. So they’re throwing the two together.”

While varietal genetics can play a role in protein levels, Pasieczka notes environmental factors have a much bigger impact on protein levels.

“If the barley is struggling, it’s going to tend to have higher protein,” he explains. “If you dump a pile of fertilizer on it and there’s not enough moisture to grow a proper crop, it’s going to turn that fertilizer into protein.”

Plumpness

Plumpness is important for malting barley because larger, fuller kernels typically contain more starch, which leads to higher malt extract yield and more efficient malting.

Pasieczka says the expectation for plumpness is 85 per cent. That number is determined by passing the grain through a standardized sieve. The grade is determined as a percentage of grain that either does not pass through the sieve or is lodged in the holes.

As with protein levels, genetics take a back seat to environment.

“This is something that, as a producer, you can’t control. If you didn’t get rain, you’re probably not going to have very plump barley,” said Pasieczka. “There’s a little bit of genetics involved. Some varieties definitely are plumper than others, but it’s a Mother Nature thing. There’s not much you can do about it.”

Moisture

Moisture content is crucial when selecting malting barley because too much moisture can promote mould growth and spoilage, while too little moisture can hinder germination and enzyme activation.

Pasieczka says the industry expects moisture levels in the 10-13.5 per cent range, because end users store grain in 5,000-tonne silos and want it dry before they get it, so it doesn’t spoil.

“A lot of guys don’t harvest at 13.5. They’re harvesting a little bit higher than that, just so the kernel is not as brittle coming up,” he says. “Grain that is too dry will result in more peeled and broken kernels.”

Peeled and broken kernels are a concern because they absorb moisture more quickly. The germ may still grow, but it could grow faster than everything else.

It’s fairly easy to bring 15-16 per cent moisture down to 13.5 per cent, he says, but advises that if it’s harvested much higher than that, the grower definitely needs to dry it.

“You don’t want to dry barley. It is very, very tricky to dry,” he warns. “If you overdry your barley, you’re killing the germ. Once you kill that germ, you’ve got feed barley.”

Chitting

Chitted barley has begun germinating prematurely, which can interfere with the controlled malting process.

Chitting happens when barley in the field matures and is ready to combine but then experiences a couple of days of heavy moisture. Pasieczka says Richardson will tolerate a certain level of chitting.

“We’re looking at maybe two per cent, depending on the germ,” he said. “But that two per cent is not locked in.”

Disease and herbicides

Staining is an indication of fungal loads or moulds in your crop, such as blight. Pasieczka says it’s usually not a big issue, but it causes the hull to get very thick and woody, so it absorbs moisture differently, which could lead to different germination rates. In years where the disease load is high, samples could be rejected based on staining alone.

However, a fusarium infection that produces detectable levels of DON (deoxynivalenol) raises a red flag for malt buyers. When you open a beer and it overflows slowly (not explosively, like when a beer is shaken), it is often because the beer contains DON. Barley will be rejected if DON is detected at levels above 0.5 ppm.

Ergot is another toxin that could cause barley to be rejected. China, the destination for a large portion of the barley Richardson buys, has extremely low tolerance for ergot.

“It’s not an every-year thing, and it’s usually pocketed,” Pasieczka says. “This year was very good for ergot, but two years ago, we had it everywhere.”

Glyphosate

There is essentially zero tolerance for residual glyphosate in malting barley.

“There is no pre-harvest burndown allowed, and we do test for it,” Pasieczka says. “It’s in your contracts when you sign them. There is no tolerance for glyphosate use at all.”

Every year is different

There is no single factor that is the source for the bulk of rejections of malt barley, Pasieczka says, but certain environmental conditions mean certain problems rise to the top.

“Last year we had a lot of rain at harvest. So we had a monster amount of chitting,” he says. “This year, we had no moisture in pretty much all of July. So this year we had very thin kernels.”

Ultimately, to secure the premiums malt barley can offer — now roughly $1.25 per bushel, he says — a farmer has to take control over the things within their power and otherwise hope for good luck.

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Corteva Agriscience in mid-November said it’s made a “revolutionary breakthrough” with which it expects to produce hybrid hard red winter wheat for the North American market “as early as 2027” and add other hybrid wheats to the product line over time.

The U.S. company sounds quite upbeat about the performance of its “first-of-its kind, proprietary non-GMO hybrid technology.” It notes its internal yield trial testing shows a 10 per cent increase in yield potential “while using the same amount of land and resources” and yields roughly 20 per cent higher than current “elite” varieties in “water-stressed environments.”

(Those trials, Corteva says, were run at six to 10 locations per year over two years, with hard red winter wheat testing done in Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado.)

Of course, a lot of unknowns still swirl around this announcement. Will this wheat, or one like it, be available to Canadian growers? Corteva has since told us it anticipates introducing the product to the Canadian market at some point but doesn’t yet have a hard timeline for it. It also says it plans to also bring this technology to the hard red spring class by decade’s end.

Also: how will this differ from hybrids other companies have in the pipeline? We’re still waiting to hear more, though we know the answer will be different from just a few years ago, when several players appeared to be racing to get hybrid wheats to market.

From Prairie wheat growers’ perspective, the most significant of those was Bayer, which in the mid-2010s set up a breeding station and trial acreage near Pike Lake, south of Saskatoon, devoted to hybrid wheat. But in 2018 Bayer, needing antitrust approvals for its takeover of Monsanto, sold that shop among others to BASF — which in turn walked away from North American hybrid wheat development in 2023, saying its trials “have not achieved the development goals we set to meet the needs of growers in Canada and the United States” and that it would instead focus its work on European markets.

Syngenta, working on its own hybrid wheats since 2010, rolled out a few thousand acres’ worth of hybrid HRS wheat seed for U.S. growers in 2023 under the brand name AgriPro. It also expects its products to show a 10-12 per cent bump in yield potential compared to current wheats — and that it will produce other hybrid HRS and HRW wheats for the U.S. market within the next few years.

The company, however, also walked away from hybrid wheat development for the Canadian market in 2018, and says it has no plans to bring its new U.S. wheats up here either. “The products continuing to come through the pipeline are not a fit for the industry standards that Canada has today,” a Syngenta rep told the Western Producer in 2023.

Past all that is the big question: cost. As Jim Timlick notes elsewhere in these pages, Corteva alone spends $4 million per day on R+D and needs to recoup such investment from somebody. If its new wheats are ultimately a fit for the Prairie market, that somebody is you.

Setting that price point is the challenge facing Corteva and others. Whatever they ultimately charge growers for this achievement, is a 10 per cent boost in yield potential — 20, in a dry year — going to pencil out for growers who put down cash for this product?

It’s a question the seed companies need to consider carefully — because along with the big breakthroughs come the bills for all the work that didn’t pan out. And while a lot of those expenses are deductible down the road, the bills have still gotta be paid.

The post Editor’s Rant: The price tag on progress appeared first on Grainews.

Corteva: Pioneer Seed

P74691PCE is a high-yielding grain corn hybrid featuring the PowerCore Enlist trait, which combines PowerCore’s three modes of action against above-ground insect pests with the flexibility of the Enlist weed control system. It has strong root strength, very good mid-season brittle snap tolerance and above-average test weight that stabilizes agronomic performance. Its comparative relative maturity (CRM) rating is 74 and its corn heat unit (CHU) requirement is 2125.

P82288PCE is a dual-purpose PowerCore Enlist hybrid with very good Goss’s wilt tolerance and above-average stalk and root strength. P82288PCE also offers excellent grain yield performance for its maturity in southern Manitoba as well as strong silage yield and milk per acre and beef per acre values. CRM: 82. CHU: 2400.

P87040PCE is a dual-purpose PowerCore Enlist hybrid that has excellent silage yield potential for full-season environments while maintaining fibre digestibility and good milk/beef per acre values. CRM: 87. CHU: 2575.

P87040V is a dual-purpose Vorceed Enlist corn offering excellent silage yield potential for full-season environments while maintaining fibre digestibility and good milk/beef per acre values. Vorceed Enlist technology provides six modes of action against insects (three above ground, three below ground) and four herbicide tolerance modes of action to maximize yield potential and flexibility. CRM: 87. CHU: 2575.

DeKalb

DKC072-12RIB is a high-yielding grain corn hybrid featuring very strong emergence and seedling vigour as well as strong green-snap tolerance. It is a medium-height plant with a medium to high ear placement. DK072-12RIB is a VT Double Pro RIB Complete corn blend that protects yield potential and grain quality with dual modes of action against European corn borer and other above-ground pests. Relative maturity (RM): 72. CHU: 2075.

DKC084-60RIB is a VT Double Pro RIB Complete grain corn hybrid with excellent yield potential as well as excellent test weight and grain drydown. It is a medium-statured plant that loses stay-green quickly but maintains a very good harvest appearance. RM: 84. CHU: 2525.

DKC087-08RIB is a grain corn hybrid featuring the SmartStax Rib Complete trait, an advanced insect and weed control system that provides two modes of action against below-ground corn rootworm and additional modes of action against above-ground insects including corn earworm. It has excellent yield potential and is fast to emerge with excellent seedling vigour. DKC087-08RIB performs well in 85 to 90 RM zones. CHU: 2650.

DKC088-04RIB is a dual-purpose hybrid with silage yield potential and nutritional attributes. Featuring excellent emergence and seeding vigour, it is a tall-statured plant with a medium-high ear placement and a short husk. This Trecepta RIB Complete corn combines the power of three different modes of action for broad-spectrum control of above-ground feeding pests, including western bean cutworm. DKC088-04RIB has a relative maturity of 88 and it moves well east to west within the 85 to 90 RM band. CHU: 2675.

Proven Seed

PV 60474RIB is an early VT Double Pro RIB Complete hybrid with excellent yield potential, strong test weight and very good Goss’s wilt tolerance. It also features strong emergence and seedling vigor, early flowering and very good stalks. Performing best in medium to medium-high plant populations, PV 60474RIB has a medium stature, so there is less plant material to manage following harvest without compromising high yields. RM: 74. CHU: 2075.

Maizex

MZ 2575DBR is a VT Double Pro RIB Complete grain corn hybrid with strong early-season vigour for rapid stand establishment. MZ 2575 has open husks that promote rapid grain drydown and it excels in variable yield environments. RM: 85. CHU: 2575.

MS 7711R is a Roundup Ready 2 silage and grazing corn hybrid. It is a tall plant with solid agronomics providing exceptional tonnage for its maturity, with early flowering that allows movement north. In northern environments, MS 771R offers improved grazing days as well. For silage, RM is 74 and CHU is 2175.

MZ 3432TRE is a Trecepta Rib Complete dual-purpose hybrid with a tall, robust plant type that increases yield. MZ 3432RE has excellent western bean cutworm control to maintain feed quality, and it is ideal for high-starch rations. For silage, RM is 91 and CHU is 2800.

MZ 3717SSP is a SmartStax Pro Rib Complete dual-purpose corn with strong stay-green that widens the harvest window. It offers strong biotech defense against corn rootworm and can be positioned on corn-after-corn fields. For silage, RM is 94 and CHU is 2775.

MZ 4026SSP is a SmartStax Pro Rib Complete dual-purpose hybrid that can be positioned on corn-after-corn fields, and it has early flowering that allows movement north. MZ 4026SP also features strong leaf disease tolerance that maintains feed quality as well as strong biotech defense against corn rootworm. For silage, RM is 100 and CHU is 2950.

LFG 999 is a conventional leafy silage hybrid with the floury gene for early starch availability at harvest. It features strong leaf disease tolerance and is a very tall plant with large ears that enhance starch quantity. RM: 96. CHU: 2800.

LFG 999R is a Roundup Ready 2 leafy silage corn with the floury gene for early starch availability at harvest. It features strong leaf disease tolerance and is a very tall plant with large ears that enhance starch quantity. RM: 96. CHU: 2800.

NorthStar Genetics

951S is a floury leafy silage hybrid with a long chopping window that provides excellent tonnage and quality corn. This Roundup Ready 2 hybrid is very tall and has a very large flex ear that delivers highly digestible starch. RM: 91. CHU: 2375-2475.

Syngenta: NK Seeds

NK8232 is a dual-purpose hybrid offering exceptional versatility on a wide range of soil types as well as great emergence and vigour that allows for earlier planting. Performing best in high populations, NK8232 has strong roots and stalks and is an excellent choice for medium- to fine-textured soils. It is both glufosinate- and glyphosate-tolerant and has a disease protection package that includes two modes of action against European corn borer and one mode of action against corn earworm and black cutworm. Western Canadian CHU: 2400.

NK8558 is a dual-purpose corn with solid emergence and vigour that offers outstanding yield potential and versatility on a wide range of soil types. This hybrid is a good silage option for southern Manitoba, providing excellent tonnage and feed quality, and it performs best in medium to high populations. NK8558 is both glufosinate- and glyphosate-tolerant and has a disease protection package that includes two modes of action against European corn borer and one mode of action against corn earworm and black cutworm. Western Canadian CHU: 2525.

NK8711 is a broadly adapted silage hybrid with strong drought tolerance that provides dependable performance with good grain quality and test weight and top-end yield potential across a range of environments. NK8711 has solid roots and late-season stalks as well as consistent ear placement. It is both glufosinate- and glyphosate-tolerant and has a disease protection package that includes two modes of action again European corn borer, corn earworm, fall armyworm and black and dingy cutworm and one of mode of action against true armyworm and western bean cutworm. Western Canadian CHU: 2575.

Syngenta: Enogen

E087C2 is an exceptional silage hybrid and a potential winter grazing hybrid, with season-long standability in southern Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. It offers strong agronomics that include green-snap tolerance as well as strong roots, stalks and seedling vigour. The tallest hybrid in Syngenta’s western Canadian Enogen portfolio, E087C2 has a lower ear placement and performs best on medium- to fine-textured soils. This hybrid is both glufosinate- and glyphosate-tolerant and has a disease defence package that includes protection against corn rootworm, two modes of action again European corn borer and corn rootworm and one mode of action against corn earworm, black cutworm and fall armyworm. Western Canadian CHU: 2575.

Thunder Seed

TH6477PC is a Powercore Enlist hybrid with good Goss’s wilt and northern corn leaf blight tolerance that is broadly adapted for good performance across southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan. TH6477PC moves west and handles tough growing conditions very well. RM: 77.

TH6578 VT2P is a VT Double Pro RIB Complete hybrid with early flowering and great Goss’s wilt tolerance that makes it well suited to conditions across Western Canada. It has very good drought stress tolerance and also offers top-end yield potential and excellent test weight. TH6578 VT2P has good stay-green and intactness for favourable fall appearance. RM: 78.

TH6583 VT2P is a highly consistent hybrid in all environments with great yield potential and very good test weight. Performing best in medium high populations, this VT Double Pro RIB Complete corn has strong standability with solid roots, stalks and fall intactness. RM: 83.

TH6490 VT2P is a VT Double Pro RIB Complete corn offering strong yield potential and excellent versatility and consistency. TH6490 VT2P has good ear flex that allows medium planting populations, and it is able to move north and south well. RM: 90.

Winfield United

CP1225VT2P/RIB is a VT Double Pro RIB Complete hybrid offering impressive performance and great drydown. A good option for the early silage market, this very early corn has excellent emergence and early season vigour that produces a taller plant for its maturity. RM: 72. CHU: 2050.

CP2324VT2P/RIB is a VT Double Pro RIB Complete corn that performs well across all yield environments. It has strong seedling vigour so it can be planted early to maximize heat units, and CP2324VTR2P/RIB also features quick drydown once it has hit maturity. RM: 83. CHU: 2500.

The post New corn hybrids for 2025 appeared first on Grainews.

Many southern portions of the province received above-average rainfall amounts this spring, which has turned out to be a mixed blessing for corn producers in the region.

While those rains helped promote early germination and plant growth in fields, the abundance of wet stuff meant the roots of those corn plants didn’t grow as deep as they normally would, since they could access moisture and nutrients close to the soil surface.

As a result, nutrients near the surface became depleted and corn plant roots weren’t developed enough to drill further down into the soil to access additional sources.

The concern heading into this year’s harvest is those nutrient-deprived corn plants could show quality or yield losses.

“The first rains were obviously a huge blessing because we were planting into really dry conditions,” says Morgan Cott, agronomy extension specialist for special crops with the Manitoba Crop Alliance.

“It’s just that the rain kept coming and a lot of areas were getting waterlogged. Some areas were getting stunted because of the water sitting in the fields. Like anything, if corn is sitting in water for too long, it can’t breathe. There’s no oxygen so it’s just sitting there not doing anything. Some plants will die while others won’t but they never sort of rejuvenate.”

Manitoba Agriculture’s growing season report shows just how wet some corn-growing areas of the province were early on this season. Portage la Prairie received 177 mm of rain between April 15 and June 2, which is 193 per cent of the average rainfall it receives during that period of time. Meanwhile, Brandon received 162 mm (213 per cent) while Morden received 189 mm (190 per cent) and Rivers had 167 mm (211 per cent).

All that moisture meant corn plant roots tended to develop more laterally than vertically. The lack of root material meant those plants had difficulty accessing much-needed nutrients as they leached downwards into the soil over the course of the season.

“Roots are lazy. Roots will go where they have access to everything they need. Why would they be digging down deep if all the water and all the fertilizer was sitting there with them in those first couple of months,” Cott says.

Table: Prairie grain corn acres planted

Source: Statistics Canada. * – figure deemed “too unreliable”

‘Rebound’

It’s a situation that concerns Jill Verwey and her husband Ray. They operate an 8,000-acre grain and oilseed farm just south of Portage la Prairie. They planted about 400 acres of corn this spring and ended up having to reseed about 130 acres to canola as a result of the damp conditions.

Now, their fingers are crossed that their remaining corn acres will rebound enough to produce a decent yield.

“We did get some good rebound once we had some heat. But we’re still a ways away from knowing what the effects of this year will be on the corn crop,” she says.

“That early cool, wet weather will probably have an impact at the end of day on yield. We’ll probably not see as good a yield as what we would have expected, had we had a better start in the spring. How much that loss is going to be, we won’t know until the crop’s in the bin. It’s hard to make that call at this time of year. It will definitely be more favourable… if we have some good growing conditions over the next little while.”

Cott agrees it’s too early to know how much nutrient loss occurred this season and what impact it could have on yield.

One way growers can tell if their corn plants are suffering from nutrient loss, she says, is to check the leaves near the bottom of the plant. If they have already started to fire off, or drop, it’s a likely indicator of nitrogen deficiency. Browning or yellowing lower leaves is another likely sign of nutrient deficiency.

The bad news is that if that’s the case, there’s not much growers can do about it at this point. Even if they were to apply a top dressing, it’s likely too late in the season for the plant to take it up. Normally, top dressing has to be applied to corn at the V4 stage when there are four leaves and leaf collars are visible. Foliar sprays aren’t a solution either since they can cause damage to the crop, Cott adds.

Cott says it’s really up to individual producers to determine whether to put all of their fertilizer down up front or to split it up with a top dressing midway through the season. The challenge with a split application is that producers never know when it’s going to rain or when the rain will stop, so that later application could end up having a negligible effect.

Cott’s advice to corn growers is to scout crops early and often so they can detect in a timely fashion if any nutrient deficiency is occurring and are prepared to act quickly.

“If the weather is either too dry or too wet where we are in extremes either way, then keeping your eyes on the field is the best way to know what might be the best thing to do for fertility,” she says. “It’s just important to be scouting everything as much as you can so you know what’s going on. It takes a lot of time but it’s valuable to do so.”

Depending on how the current situation plays out, this year could be something of an anomaly for corn production in Manitoba. Over the last dozen years, the number of corn acres in the province has grown from about 300,000, in 2012, to more than 500,000 in 2024. Last year, the province produced a record 1.79 million tonnes of grain corn, which represented 11.8 per cent of Canada’s total corn production.

While those numbers could drop slightly if there are any significant yield losses in the province this year, Cott expects that upward trend to continue over the long term.

“I honestly think it’s just that it’s a relatively easy crop to grow. Guys have seen success with it. Making the investments needed to be growing corn isn’t seeming like a real hit to the farm,” she says.

“There are benefits to making an investment in a drier and planters and bins. Making those investments is a lot more appealing now that we’ve seen steady success with grain corn in Manitoba. It’s a lot more justifiable.”

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