Canadian wheat classes

Canadian wheat varieties fall into classes and each class is unique. The varieties within each class are grouped by their functional characteristics. For example, varieties in the Canada Prairie Spring Red class have medium hard kernels and medium dough strength. Canadian wheat classes are categorized by Canada Western and Canada Eastern, the regions in which the varieties are grown.

Eastern Canadian wheat classes

Eastern Canadian wheat milling class descriptions

There are 7 classes of eastern Canadian wheat:

• Canada Eastern Amber Durum (CEAD)
• Canada Eastern Hard Red Winter (CEHRW)
• Canada Eastern Hard White Spring (CEHWS)
• Canada Eastern Red Spring (CERS)
• Canada Eastern Soft Red Winter (CESRW)
• Canada Eastern Soft White Spring (CESWS)
• Canada Eastern White Winter (CEWW)

Western Canadian wheat classes

Western Canadian wheat milling class descriptions

There are 8 milling classes of western Canadian wheat:

• Canada Prairie Spring Red (CPSR)
• Canada Prairie Spring White (CPSW)
• Canada Western Amber Durum (CWAD)
• Canada Western Extra Strong (CWES)
• Canada Western Hard White Spring (CWHWS)
• Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS)
• Canada Western Red Winter (CWRW)
• Canada Western Soft White Spring (CWSWS)

Each milling class has its own quality and processing characteristics.

Sample kernels from each of the 8 milling classes of western Canadian wheat.

The eight classes of western Canadian wheat photograph is available for download at different resolutions.

• Eight classes of western Canadian wheat, jpg format, 72 dpi, 16KB
• Eight classes of western Canadian wheat, jpg format, 300 dpi, 657KB
• Eight classes of western Canadian wheat, PDF format, 300 dpi, 666KB

Western Canadian wheat milling class characteristics

	Colour	Size	Shape	Germ	Brush	Cheeks
Red Spring	translucent red	small to midsize	oval to ovate	round, midsize to large	varies
Red Winter	orange to opaque red	small to midsize	elliptical	small, oval to round	small	round
Extra Strong	dark to medium red	large	ovate, s-shaped base	large, wide, typically round	large, collared ventrally	round
CPS Red	opaque red to orange	midsize to large	ovate to elliptical, incurved base	midsize to small, oval	small to midsize
CPS White	white	midsize to large	ovate to elliptical, incurved base	midsize, oval	small to midsize
Amber Durum	amber	large to midsize	elliptical	large, wide oval to rectangular	varies	angular
Soft White Spring	white	small to midsize	ovate to oval	small, oval	varies
Hard White Spring	white	small to midsize	oval to ovate	round, midsize to large	varies

Canada Western General Purpose wheat class description

The Canada Western General Purpose wheat class has been created to meet the needs of the feed and industrial sectors. There are no quality requirements for this class. The varieties within this class may look similar to varieties within other classes of wheat.