Canada: Changes proposed for malting barley grading

A single select grade for eastern and western malt barley are among the changes proposed for eastern grain grading to take effect July 1, Manitoba Cooperator published June 4.

According to a Canadian Grain Commission release Tuesday, the Eastern Standards Committee (ESC) has recommended that the CGC revise the current malt barley grade schedule to include only two grades: Select CW/CE Six-row and Select CW/CE Two-row.

The revision better reflects industry handling and marketing practices, the ESC said.

The ESC's other recommendations include:

* a revision for tolerances for sclerotinia in specific grades of general-purpose rye and barley, since the ESC found the current tolerances are "unnecessarily tight;" and
* changing the reporting of tolerances for stones to a percentage of total weight and sample, saying the current assessment method is too subjective and digital scales now allow for accurate measurement of such "minute amounts of foreign matter."

The ESC, at its meeting in April, also decided that a "general purpose" wheat class isn't needed in Eastern Canada because the grade structure for eastern Canadian wheat classes already meets the needs of producers and the industry in the region. Thus the ESC has decided not to adopt the grade schedule for Canada Western General Purpose wheat.

The CGC also reported Wednesday on studies it had planned to work on in 2007 but has postponed to this year. Those include studies on fusarium and deoxynivalenol (DON); mildew; and the use of falling number as a grading factor for eastern wheats.

"As the quality of the wheat harvest was so high in 2007, the CGC did not have enough samples to work on the projects," the commission said.

05 June, 2008