Western Standards Committee recommendations from November 8, 2004

The Western Standards Committee (WSC) recommended 13 new standard samples and five new visual guides for the crop year at its fall meeting held on November 8, 2004.

Standard samples

The WSC recommended new standard samples for the following grades for the 2004-05 crop year:

• Wheat, No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS)
• Wheat, No. 1, 2 and 3 Canada Western Amber Durum (CWAD)
• Wheat, No. 1 and 2 Canada Western Red Winter (CWRW)
• Peas, No. 1 and 2 Canada Yellow
• Peas, No. 1 Canada Green
• Soybeans, No. 1 Canada Yellow

and the following guides:

• Wheat, No. 2 CWRS green guide
• Wheat, No. 4 CWAD mildew guide
• Wheat, No. 2 CWRW mildew guide
• Wheat, No. 3 Canada Western Hard White (CWHW) frost and green guide
• Pea Beans, Canada, good natural colour

Falling number as a grading factor

The WSC supported the concept of replacing sprout damage assessment with falling number as a grading factor. On the recommendation of the WSC, the Canadian Grain Commission will determine what the falling number specifications should be for each grade within each wheat class. The Canadian Grain Commission will present its findings at the meeting of the WSC next spring.

Export test weight for Wheat, No. 4 CWRS

The WSC recommended increasing the export test weight for No. 4 CWRS wheat from 68.0 kg/hL to 75.0 kg/hL.

On September 23, 2004, the Canadian Grain Commission added No. 4 CWRS wheat as a grade to the Canada Grain Regulations. The grade was previously created by an annual Order, and the export specification was 68.0 kg/hL, the same as the primary specification. At that specification, the export text weight for No. 4 CWRS was lower than the test weight for the feed grade. The test weight for No. 4 CWRS wheat is now higher than the test weight for the feed grade.

Export test weights for Wheat, CWRS

Grade	Export test weight, kg/hL
No. 1 CWRS	79.0 (unchanged)
No. 2 CWRS	77.5 (unchanged)
No. 3 CWRS	76.5 (unchanged)
No. 4 CWRS	75.0 (new)
Feed	73.0 (unchanged)

Criteria for variety designation lists for barley

The WSC recommended criteria for adding and removing varieties to the variety designation list for malt barley.

The Canadian Grain Commission maintains lists of varieties eligible for delivery into each class. The purpose of these variety designation lists is to help producers and grain handlers ensure that grain shipments do not contain unapproved varieties that could undermine the quality of a shipment.

If a variety is registered and supported by the Malt Barley Evaluation Team of the Prairie Registration Recommending Committee for Grain (PRRCG), it is included on the list.

The Canadian Grain Commission, Canadian Wheat Board (CWB), Brewing and Malting Barley Research Institute, Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre, grain companies or marketers can request the following:

• Adding varieties that are registered but not supported by the Quality Evaluation Team of the PRRCG
• Removing varieties that were supported by the Malt Barley Evaluation Team of PRRCG

An industry committee will consider each request. If there are objections to a request, the industry committee and the party making the request will present information to a Canadian Grain Commission committee for final decision.

Composition of Wheat Subcommittee

In response to a recommendation from the Wheat Subcommittee, the Canadian Grain Commission will review the composition of the subcommittee. The review will look at the variety of representation and if greater representation is needed from particular parts of the grain sector, for example, by processors. The subcommittee currently consists of the following: five producers, three industry representatives, two Canadian Grain Commission representatives, and three CWB representatives. The Canadian Grain Commission will prepare a response for the meeting of the WSC next spring.

The Wheat Subcommittee is one of four subcommittees that provides advice on commodity-related concerns and brings recommendations to the main committee. The Canadian Grain Commission selected members for each subcommittee from submissions from producer and industry groups.