Grain grades and standards

What are grades and standards?

A grade separates something into groups, each of which meets a certain standard. In schools, for example, children are placed into grades on the basis of a number of standards, such as age and skill in reading.

Just as children in a grade are similar but not identical, grain in a grade is similar, but not identical. It varies within the limits set by the standards for the grade for colour, absence of disease, presence of foreign matter, etc. In other words, a grade represents a range of quality.

Most people agree with the general principle that placing things into grades is possible, even useful. The difficulty is to define where the cutoff point is from one grade to the next. With grain, as with most other things we grade, the standards are chosen carefully. They are set at points that seem to provide the greatest benefit for the greatest number of producers and for the grain industry as a whole.

Standards for grain have evolved over 5 000 years, since the first producers tried to sell their first excess grain to their first customers. No system has ever completely satisfied producers, brokers and processors. Our system is under constant evaluation and revision to ensure that it meets the needs of the greatest number of people.

Why do we have grain grades?

Grain grades help to ensure that producers get paid maximum value for their grain according to the quality of the grain.

Grain grades help us attract and keep customers who buy our grain for its consistent quality.

Grain grades let us use a bulk handling system that helps keep handling and transportation costs low and our grain prices high in a competitive global market.

To increase demand for our grain

Canadian grain, especially wheat, receives favourable consideration from buyers because of its consistency. This consistency, brought about by grading, increases the demand for Canadian grain.

To keep transportation costs low

Before the railways made bulk transportation of grain feasible, grain was transported from producer to buyer in sacks. Each producer's grain could be kept separate. Today we transport grain in bulk. Through grading, grain with similar qualities received from different producers is combined into larger lots for more efficient handling and transportation.

However, the benefit of bulk handling disappears if there are too many grades that require separate handling. There is no efficiency to a grade that must be transported in very small quantities.

To keep prices high

Much of Canada's grain travels long distances to its markets. This adds to costs. Thus we need to get the highest prices possible for the grain we market. Grading segregates grain into different quality levels to satisfy both foreign and domestic markets.

To communicate with customers

In simpler markets, when buyers dealt directly with producers, they could see what they were buying. In today's more complicated markets, buyers may be on the other side of the globe from producers. We need a way to describe to customers what we are selling. Our grain grades predict the end use quality of our grain accurately and consistently to maintain our customers' confidence in our product.

Grain grades meet real needs

Grades are developed to meet real needs--the needs for markets, low handling costs, and high prices to offset transportation costs.

In general, grain grades must

• Be built on qualities that customers want--such as test weight. If we don't satisfy our customers' needs, our product won't sell.
• Be easily applied at both primary and terminal elevators--grading must not significantly slow the process of handling and transporting grain through the system, which is why we grade using visually distinguishable characteristics, not using characteristics requiring scientific analysis. This keeps handling costs lower and producers' profits higher.
• Be built around characteristics that can be accurately and uniformly measured and interpreted--in Canada, inspectors are trained to identify the characteristics of all grain grades. The standards can be applied efficiently and uniformly across Canada.
• Identify a quality level of grain that is available in enough volume to market economically--there is no benefit to marketing a grade that no one will buy.
• Provide more benefits than costs--for example, if we add a new grade, the cost of adding the grade must be recovered in increased sales.

In Canada, wheat classes and grades are based upon end use quality. They are identified by their visual characteristics, called kernel visual distinguishability (KVD). New varieties must perform the same as or better than other varieties in the same class, and they must also look like other varieties within the same class. Similarly, grades within each class are visually distinguishable.

Grain grades have two components, objective and subjective.

• Objective characteristics are those listed in the Canadian Grain Commission's Official Grain Grading Guide with specific percentages, such as a maximum of 0.03 percent stones, by weight, in a sample of No. 1 CWRS wheat.
• Subjective characteristics are those included in the "degree of soundness" descriptions, such as Reasonably well matured, reasonably free from damaged kernels for No. 1 CWRS.

Grain inspectors receive many years of training and are highly qualified to grade grain. However, because mistakes can happen, the Canadian Grain Commission allows appeals when there is dissatisfaction with the grade assigned by one of its inspectors.

Other countries use other methods, and each method has its advantages and disadvantages. More objective grading methods mean using technology, slowing the process and adding to the cost. They are not necessarily more accurate. Scientific measurements are subject to sampling and other errors. Machines can fail, and their calibrations can be off.

Grain Standards Committees

Because grades are based on real needs, and because our customers' needs change, grades must be reviewed regularly. To provide for a regular review, the Canada Grain Act requires that there must be a Western and an Eastern Grain Standards Committee. These committees recommend specifications for grades of grain, and for standard samples for each class and grade of grain grown in Canada.

The Western Grain Standards Committee has up to 26 members, of whom 12 must be grain producers. The Eastern Grain Standards Committee has up to 15 members, of whom 4 can be grain producers.

These members are your representatives. If you have concerns about grain grading, talk to a member of the committee.

Standard samples

Each fall, the Grain Standards Committees meet to review standard samples created by the Canadian Grain Commission for that crop year.

A standard sample is a sample of grain that represents the minimum visual quality for each grade of grain that will reach the marketplace in a given year. Slight variations in appearance from year to year reflect variations in environmental conditions from year to year. However, the standard sample maintains the processing quality for the class and grade. The objective factors are fairly easy to represent. However, the subjective factors are more difficult.

The "degree of soundness" for No. 1 CWRS wheat is defined in the Grain Grading Guide as Reasonably well matured, reasonably free from damaged kernels. In some years, there will be little frost damage, for example, and the standard sample reflects that condition. In a year of heavy frost, the inspectors putting together the standard sample will increase the number of frost-damaged kernels in the sample, keeping within the limits for the grade and ensuring that the processing qualities are not altered. They may also adjust other degrading factors to maintain end use qualities. Researchers from the Grain Research Laboratory are able to give guidelines for limits of frost damage that can be present without endangering processing quality.

Creating the standard samples

Grain samples arrive at the Canadian Grain Commission from grain companies, which have collected samples from deliveries at primary elevators. They examine these samples themselves before sending them to the Canadian Grain Commission.

From the hundreds available for a given grain and class, Industry Services inspectors select a few samples to be used to create the standard samples for that crop year.

Putting together the standard samples blends art and science. The Industry Services specialists rely on their knowledge and their many years of experience with grain to create the standard samples, which reflect the actual growing conditions for the crop year. They also rely on information from the Grain Research Laboratory, provincial departments of agriculture, and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

Approving standard samples

Once Industry Services specialists have determined their mix, the Chief Grain Inspector approves the preliminary samples.

The final review belongs to the Grain Standards Committees. After the Committees have made their recommendations, the Canadian Grain Commission designates the standard samples for the year.

Non-visual quality of grains

We grade our grain on the basis of its visual qualities. However, customers buy our grain for its processing qualities. It is important that grades consistently predict the same processing qualities.

Each year, each grade of grain is analysed in the Grain Research Laboratory to verify its processing quality.

This analysis is done on two types of samples, producer samples and cargo samples.

Producer samples

Each year, producers are asked to send samples of grain to the Canadian Grain Commission in small mailing envelopes.

1. When they are received at the Canadian Grain Commission, these samples are first analysed for protein and moisture content. The cumulative results are analysed by researchers at the Grain Research Laboratory.
2. Industry Services grades the samples. They may ask to use some of the material represented by the samples for creating the standard samples.
3. The Grain Research Laboratory makes composite samples for each grade, and subjects these samples to a number of tests.

These results are published in harvest or crop survey bulletins. They are used to market our grain around the world.

Cargo samples

The Grain Research Laboratory takes composite samples of export cargoes. These samples are analysed for their processing quality. Results are published by grade in cargo survey bulletins, usually several months after the composite results are published.

The results do not affect grading, but they do provide our customers with important information about how to use our grain. The results also provide us with important reassurance that our visual grading system continues to predict processing quality.

Changing grades and standards

Grades are developed as a way of describing a shipment of grain to customers so that they know they are getting grain that meets their needs.

When their needs change, grades change. However, grades change only after the Grain Standards Committee has researched, discussed and approved the change, and after the regulations change.

In 1995, the Canadian Grain Commission introduced three grades of Canada Western Solin, an edible oil flaxseed variety with low linolenic acid. The grades and their specifications were introduced to recognize that solin has end-use qualities distinct from other varieties of flaxseed.

While grades change rarely, standard samples may change each year to reflect the specific environmental conditions of the growing year.

Protein segregations in wheat

Not all changes in needs result in a change in grades. Some changes are accommodated within the current grading system. The story of protein segregations in wheat illustrates this kind of change.

Protein was not important to grain sales until the 1920s. Western Canadian wheat was known to have a high protein content, and this was a selling feature. The Grain Research Laboratory undertook a survey of the protein content of western Canadian wheat in 1926. It has continued to do this surveyannually ever since.

The initial survey showed that some areas of western Canada produced wheat of much higher protein content than other areas. In the United States at that time, milling companies were paying premiums for high protein wheat. Producers in the high protein areas of south and central Saskatchewan began to lobby for the introduction of protein as a grading factor, especially because higher protein means lower yields.

At the time, most of our customers were in Europe, and they were not prepared to pay a premium for protein. The matter was dropped until the 1960s, when other countries began to market wheat on the basis of protein.

Protein content cannot be determined by visual inspection of the grain-we could not offer protein grades with our current grading system.

To meet the demands of the marketplace, Canada began to market wheat on the basis of guaranteed protein levels in 1971. We did it by adding protein segregations within higher grades of wheat-customers could get No. 1 CWRS, for example, in protein levels of 14.0%, 13.5%, 13.0%, etc. A quick test now available at major inspection points allows the protein to be measured and the wheat to be segregated.

Thus, change happened because customers demanded it and because the technology became available to measure protein content quickly during unloading of the wheat at elevators.

In summary

The Canadian Grain Commission provides quality control for the grain industry. It does this by defining grading standards, and then by ensuring these standards are applied consistently and produce consistent results for our customers.

Grades in Canada are assigned on the basis of the visual quality characteristics of grain. Some visual characteristics can be measured objectively, such as percentage of foreign matter or ergot. Some visual characteristics are subjective, referred to as "degree of soundness."

Industry Services prepares standard samples of grain each year to verify that inspectors are interpreting "degree of soundness" consistently for this crop year. The Grain Research Laboratory tests grain samples to verify that grades have the same processing qualities from year to year.

Thus the validity of our visual grading system is reinforced by scientific testing. In that way, our grading responds to customers' needs for quality and consistency.

In meeting our customers' needs, we help to ensure continued markets for your grain long into the future.

Highlights in the history of grain grading

• The prophet Amos called down the wrath of God on grain merchants of 750 BC, whom he accused of "selling even the sweepings with the wheat." (Amos 8:5,6)
• In thirteenth-century London, town ordinances prohibited the mixing of moldy corn with good corn.
• In November 1752 the measurers accused Fourcret, a flour merchant from Villiers, "of having mixed flours of different qualities and prices in order to draw a greater profit."
• By 1791, total wheat exports from the United States had reached 1 million bushels.
• In 1836, the size of the bushel ranged from 2500 cubic inches in Colorado to 2748 in Connecticut.
• In October 1856, the Chicago Board of Trade passed a resolution establishing the standard grades for wheat as "white" (winter), "red" (winter), and "spring," prime quality-indicating that variations from prime quality should be specified.
• In 1863, the Province of Canada enacted legislation for grain grading and inspection similar to the guidelines established by the Chicago Board of Trade.
• By 1867, Ontario was growing substantial quantities of white winter wheat to supply an aggressive milling industry that exported flour to the West Indies, the Mediterranean, and to parts of the United States
• By 1876, Manitoba Red Fife was being shipped by river to Minneapolis. A new milling process had replaced traditional stone grinding. Now "Flinty" Red Fife, which thrived on the Prairies, was sought after as a source of patent flour, a very fine white flour that made a higher volume, higher protein loaf. The new process used a device called a purifier and iron rollers instead of stones to grind the wheat.
• In the 1880s, settlement on the prairies was encouraged by the development of the railways and the lure of profits to be made from Red Fife wheat. The railways meant the beginning of bulk handling of grain.
• In 1882, the Ogilvie Milling Company completed the first roller mill in Manitoba. Large merchant mills throughout the United States and Europe required a reliable supply of uniform quality wheat.
• In 1884, the Canada Pacific Railway (CPR) completed its first grain terminal at Port Arthur, and handled about 1.5 million bushels of grain, mainly wheat. Captain William Clarke became inspector of the newly established Inspection District of Winnipeg. The Manitoba wheat crop was 6 million bushels. In 1889, the Western Standards Board for western grain was created.
• In 1899, major revisions were made to the Grain Inspection Act. A major revision was the addition of the farmer's right of appeal of the grade assigned to grain offered for sale. The Canadian Government established a Royal Commission to investigate alleged evils in grain transportation and handling. The Commission noted that the only regulation of the grain industry was provided by the railways and the grain companies, and it recommended principles that were adopted in the Manitoba Grain Act of 1900.
• The Canada Grain Act was passed in 1912. It continues to define the role of the Canadian Grain Commission.
• The United States Grain Standards Act was passed in 1916.
• The Boerner divider was first used in the United States in 1916, and it remains in use today in the Canadian Grain Commission. It is used by grain handlers an inspectors for mixing and dividing a grain sample so that each half is uniform and comparable to the other.
• In 1971, Canada became the first wheat-exporting country in the world to offer the top milling grades of wheat at government-guaranteed minimum protein levels.