Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the federal department of agriculture.

Canada Grain Act. See Canada Grain Act.

Aeration is the process of passing air currents through a grain stream. This process is used to remove objectionable odours or to preserve grain quality by reducing its temperature or moisture content.

See insect damage.

Ascochyta blight is a fungal disease that attacks the leaflets, stems, petioles, pods, and seeds of lentil. Heavily infected seeds usually are characterized by a half-moon shaped, light to reddish or reddish brown spot on the edge of the seed. Occasionally it appears as a brown spot on the cheek of the seed.

Ascochyta blight was first reported in Canada in 1978 and has subsequently become a serious problem. It causes yield losses and severe seed discolouration in epidemic years.

Attritional material is material other than small seeds and broken grain passing through the No. 4.5 round-hole sieve.

An automatic mechanical sampler is a device which extracts a small representative portion from the grain flow at regular intervals.

Average samples represent the visual quality of a grade of grain in a specific location at the end of a time interval. Average samples are composited to create official carlot unload samples, cargo samples or submitted samples, by elevator, by port, or by inspection district. They provide a means of monitoring grade levels and specific grading factors.

In two-row barley, barley of other types is any six-row variety. In six-row barley, barley of other types is any two-row variety.

A Berlese funnel is a device for collecting insects.

Grain suspected of being infested is placed in the funnel. The funnels used by Industry Services hold up to one kilogram of grain. The funnels are placed under lights. Insects move away from the lights down the funnel and are collected in receptacles placed under the funnels.

Binburnt kernels closely resemble fireburnt kernels in colour. However, in cross section, the binburnt kernel maintains its dense structure and appears smooth and glossy, unlike a fireburnt kernel, which looks like charcoal in cross-section, has numerous air holes, and crumbles easily under pressure.

Binburnt kernels are caused by gradual heating in storage and have not been exposed to temperatures approaching ignition.

The weight of a binburnt kernel is similar to that of a sound kernel of comparable size.

Blackpoint is a discolouration on the germ end of kernels of grain caused by numerous species of fungi and bacteria. Blackpoint is found in barley, triticale and wheat, although there is no separate tolerance defined for blackpoint in barley.

Kernels are susceptible during periods of rainfall or humidity above 90%, particularly during filling or maturation.

Blackpoint does not usually reduce yields, but it can reduce grade and quality. Blackpoint is especially troublesome on durum wheat because black specks can appear in the semolina.

Bleaching is an indication of exposure to wet conditions at or near maturity. Bleaching is caused by alternate wetting and drying of grain which causes tiny fissures to develop throughout the kernels. The fissures are caused because the grain swells a little when it is wet and doesn’t dry back to the same size.

Board grains are western grains marketed under the control of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB). These include western wheat and barley destined for the export market, as well as domestic sales of wheat and barley for human consumption.

Domestic feed wheat and domestic feed barley may be sold either on the open market or delivered to the CWB.

The brake end is the end of a railway car where the hand brake wheel is located. Compartments or partitions in a railcar are numbered sequentially beginning at the brake end.

Bunt is characterized the presence of bunt balls or black spores. Infected grain may have a fishy odour. Common bunt is a wheat disease caused by two closely related fungi, Tilletia caries and Tilletia foetida. The disease is also called stinking or covered smut. In infected plants, kernels on headed plants are replaced with bunt balls containing black powdery spores of the fungus.

Bunt balls can be removed by following procedures for cleaning for grade improvement, as long as there is no odour. If there is an odour, the presence of bunt balls is a grading factor in wheat. If there is no odour, but kernels are tagged with bunt, the sample is considered naturally stained.

Bunt reduces yield of infected crops, and it reduces the value of the crop, even in mildly infected crops. It is not as common as it once was in Canada, because we have developed effective control measures and new cultivars that are resistant to the disease.

These three terms form part of the grade name; for example, Canada Eastern White Spring wheat, or Canada Western select barley. The terms refer to the geographic area (eastern or western Canada) of production as defined in the Canada Grain Act, or to Canada generally.

The Canada Grain Act is the statutory authority empowering the Canadian Grain Commission to regulate grain handling in Canada and to establish and maintain quality standards for Canadian grain. It was first passed in 1912. The text of the Act can be found through the Canadian Grain Commission web site at www.grainscanada.gc.ca.

The Regulations are established by Section 116 of the Canada Grain Act. They govern grain-handling procedures and define grades for grain grown in eastern and western Canada.

The term “canola” was trademarked in 1978 by the Western Canadian Oilseed Crushers’ Association to differentiate the new superior low-erucic acid and low-glucosinolate varieties and their products from older rapeseed varieties.

A cargo sample is a composite of average samples taken as a cargo of wheat is loaded into a ship for export. Cargo samples are inspected and graded, and portions of them are sent to the Grain Research Laboratory for analysis.

The caryopsis is the kernel of cereal grains and grasses with the hull removed. See groats.

Cash crops are crops produced for direct sale for cash.

A cash purchase ticket is a ticket issued indicating the grade, weight, price and amount payable to the owner of the grain for each delivery of grain to a primary elevator, process elevator or grain dealer. The ticket is a negotiable instrument and can be cashed at any chartered bank or credit union. It is defined in the Canada Grain Act.

Cereal grains are wheat, rye, barley, oats and triticale.

The Canadian Grain Commission issues a number of certificates assuring grain quality. These include:

• Inspection certificate, issued following an official inspection of a sample of grain
• Certificate Final, issued on cargoes of grain for export, stipulates the grade and weight of the grain
• Submitted sample certificate, issued for a submitted sample
• Western Certificate (Eastern Division)
• I-7 certificate (sample salvage)

The Certificate Final is issued by the Canadian Grain Commission for each cargo of export grain. The Certificate Final stipulates the grade and weight of the grain loaded on a vessel.

Chlorophyll is the green pigment found in all green plants. It is essential for photosynthesis. In canola, seeds lose their chlorophyll as they ripen. However, canola seeds do not all ripen at once. Therefore in harvested canola, some seeds may still contain some chlorophyll.

Classes are defined under the Canada Grain Act. Class, in respect of grain, means any variety or varieties of grain designated by order of the Canadian Grain Commission as a class.

Commercially clean shipments are shipments of grain whose dockage falls within allowed limits and is of a type normally present after standard commercial cleaning.

The Canadian Grain Commission is referred to as the Canadian Grain Commission. The Chief Commissioner of the Canadian Grain Commission reports directly to the Minister of Agriculture.

A Commission order is a directive of the Canadian Grain Commission consistent with Section 118 of the Canada Grain Act. An order remains in effect only until the end of the crop year in which it is issued. Orders can be viewed on the Canadian Grain Commission web site.

A composite sample is composed of a number of distinct portions, each obtained in a prescribed manner from consecutive samples. The portions are blended to make the composite.

Consecutive samples are samples taken one after another in a prescribed manner from the same lot of grain.

A consigned car is a carlot of grain delivered on the basis of an arranged sales agreement between the owner of the grain and a marketing agency.

▲ Important:Wear gloves and a mask to handle any sample that is suspected of containing contaminated grain.

Contaminated is defined in the “Canada Grain Act” as; “Contaminated means, in respect of grain, containing any substance in sufficient quantity that the grain is unfit for consumption by persons or animals or is adulterated within the meaning of the regulations made pursuant to sections B.01.046(1), B.15.001 and B.15.002(1) of the Food and Drugs Act.”

Determination as to whether grain is contaminated will be made by the Grain Research Laboratory in consultation with the Chief Grain Inspector for Canada. Samples deemed to be contaminated are graded “Type of Grain, Sample Condemned.”

Paragraph 76. (1) of the Canada Grain Act specifies that operators of licensed terminal or transfer elevator must inform the Canadian Grain Commission if they find grain to be infested or contaminated, or to have gone or to be likely to go out of condition or otherwise to require treatment. The Canadian Grain Commission may inspect the grain.

The Canadian Grain Commission tells the operator how to treat or dispose of the grain. If the grain has been special binned, the elevator operator may recover the costs of treating or disposing of the grain from the owner of the grain.

Paragraph 90. (1) says that a Canadian Grain Commission inspector who believes on reasonable grounds that grain is contaminated may sieze any evidence necessary to support their suspicion. Paragraph 104 says that an operator of a licensed elevator must not knowingly receive or discharge any grain, grain product or screenings that is infested or contaminated or that may reasonably be regarded as being infested or contaminated

Cool and sweet are terms used to describe the condition of grain which is of a normal temperature and is free from any objectionable odour.

The portion of an oilseed or pulse crop seed that is beneath the seed coat or hull. Grading factors may be assessed based upon an examination of the cotelydon surface or a cross section of the seed.

A Cox funnel is used in determining test weight in conjunction with the 0.5-litre measure to control the flow of grain into the measure.

The crop year is from August 1 to July 31 of the following year, as defined in the Canada Grain Act. The Governor in Council may, by order, vary the period of a crop year to another period of not less than three hundred and sixty-five days.

Canadian Wheat Board.