Some Technical Factors in the Production and Marketing of Canadian Wheat

Extract

This year farmers in western Canada planted about 23 million acres to spring wheat. It was mainly Triticum vulgare (common bread wheat) with a small acreage of Triticum durum (macaroni wheat), but within each of these species any one of five or six varieties might have been used depending on location. Wheat is grown throughout the entire length and breadth of the crop land of western Canada, on soils of widely different types and under a considerable range of weather conditions. During the growing season and at harvest time, the wheat is subjected to numerous hazards, but eventually some 300 to 550 million bushels are harvested. In addition, there will be a carryover from the last crop or two representing wheat grown under other seasonal conditions. This large quantity of wheat will be far from uniform; it will vary in appearance from near perfect to mere chicken feed, in weight per bushel from 45 to 70 pounds, in protein content from 9 to 18 per cent, and in many other physical and chemical characteristics.

This wheat must be classified into grades of dependable and uniform quality, for Canada exports wheat to countries all over the world; and when a food product moves in bulk, in large volume, over great distances, a major factor in maintaining stable markets is the buyer's confidence in what he will receive from the seller. This is especially true when the sales are made on the basis of “certificate final.” In effect, the certificate issued by the Board of Grain Commissioners for Canada when a boat is loaded guarantees that the parcel represents the specified weight, that it is of the specified grade, and that it is equal to the current Standard Export Sample of that grade. Should the buyer be dissatisfied he has no legal recourse, though he may, of course, refer the matter back to the Board. Obviously, under such a system of marketing, the seller must establish a world-wide reputation for unimpeachable integrity and an almost infallible expertness and efficiency, both to attract new customers and to retain old ones.