Developing Wheat Varieties for the Canadian Prairies
Wheat is important to the Canadian Prairies. More wheat is grown in the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba than any other crop and it's the region's number one agri-food export. Average annual wheat production on the Prairies is 22.3 Million Tonnes Note[note 1].
Figure 1: During the last five years more than 75% of the wheat planted in western Canada was of varieties developed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)
Data Source: Canadian Wheat Board 2006 - 2010 Variety Surveys.
Description - Figure 1
The graphic shows a field of stylized wheat heads in red and green. The red ones represent the varieties developed by Agriculture and Agri Food Canada (AAFC) and the green ones, those developed by others. The red wheat heads cover 75% of the field: this provides a more dramatic graphic representation of the importance of AAFC in the development of wheat varieties.
Figure 2: Wheat varieties fall into different market classes depending on their functional characteristics. Each class of wheat is associated with particular end-uses.
Data Source: Canadian Wheat Board 2006 - 2010 Variety Surveys.
Description - Figure 2
This is a visually improved histogram over the block diagram because it is colour-coded, with the first column containing the class of wheat; the second column, the primary final use; and the third column, the percentage of varieties developed by AAFC or other developers, by acreage of stylized wheat heads.
The information provided is as follows:
- AAFC developed 100% of CWHWS or Canada Western Hard White Spring varieties, used primarily for bread and noodles.
- AAFC developed 100% of CWSWS or Canada Western Soft White Spring varieties, used mainly for cakes and as cattle feed.
- AAFC developed 99% of CWAD or Canada Western Amber Durum varieties, the only wheat on the list used primarily for pasta. The chart does not show the 1% developed by other organizations because the acreage is too small.
- AAFC developed 100% of CWSWS or Canada Western Soft White Spring varieties, used mainly for cakes and as cattle feed.
- AAFC developed almost three quarters of the CWRS or Canada Western Red Spring varieties, used primarily for bread and noodles.
- AAFC developed more than two thirds of the CWES or Canada Western Extra Strong varieties, used mainly for bread.
- AAFC developed almost half of the CPSR or Canada Prairie Spring Red varieties...
- and almost one third of the CWRW or Canada Western Red Winter varieties. These last two types of wheat are used for bread, noodles and in cattle feed.
With great versatility and superior quality traits, varieties of Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) wheat are grown in the Prairies more than any other class of wheat.
AAFC developed four of the top five CWRS varieties grown over the last five years in western Canada.
Figure 3: The 20 most grown CWRS varieties in the Canadian Prairies.
Text size is proportional to the percentage of seeded acres of each variety.
Data Source: Canadian Wheat Board 2006 - 2010 Variety Surveys.
Description - Figure 3
The last chart represents the 20 most widely planted varieties of CWRS (Canada Western Red Spring) by acreage. It contains a "cloud" of variety names: the red portion represents the varieties developed by AAFC and the green, those developed by others. The size of the names of the different varieties reflects the acreage planted. In this way, it is evident that the AAFC varieties are definitely used the most (preponderance of red in the final aspect of the chart). The following varieties dominate: Lilian, Superb, AC Barrie, Harvest, all four from AAFC. These are followed by McKenzie, the only major variety developed by others. The names of the much smaller varieties are listed next, divided almost equally between red and green. For ease of reading, the AAFC varieties are listed followed by those developed by others, without specifying their importance. For AAFC: AC Intrepid, AC Eastonia, AC Splendor, AC Cadillac, AC Elsa, AC Domain, Kane, Infinity. For the varieties developed by others: CDC Imagine, CDC Teal, CDC Go, Prodigy. Lastly, two tiny words appear at the end: Glenn (green) and Columbus (red). A note at the bottom indicates that words in even smaller font do not appear on the chart and complete the list.
Footnotes
- Footnote 1
-
5 year average from 2006/07 to 2010/11. Source data obtained from Statistics Canada, Field Crop Reporting Series, Catalogue 22-002.
Return to footnote 1 referrer
Alternative Formats
Developing Wheat Varieties for the Canadian Prairies (poster) (PDF Version, 1.7 MB)