Updates have been made to the Canadian Grain Commission’s Grain Grading Guide.

The federal government says in a news release these changes, which are “science-based”, will “better meet the needs of the agriculture sector in Canada and grain buyers around the world.”

They include an update to the definition of the severely sprouted grading factor for western classes of wheat, “after research was completed on the impacts to end-use quality.”

“The research confirmed that sprouted wheat where the sprout was partially broken off the kernel had similar end-use qualities as regular sprouted wheat. That portion of the definition is being removed from the severely sprouted grading factor definition” the news release read.

Another update was the alignment of the primary and export tolerances for test weight and total foreign material for most most classes of western wheat. Classes of wheat include Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS), Canada Western Hard White Spring (CWHWS), Canada Western Extra Strong (CWES), Canada Western Soft White Spring (CWSWS), and Canada Northern Hard Red (CNHR).

“The total foreign material primary and export tolerances for Canada Western Amber Durum (CWAD) will also be aligned to the export tolerances for all grades.” the release also said.

Other updates and clarifications include:

• the determination of dockage process in the canola chapter to clarify the process and the different sized sieves that should be used after concerns were raised by producers about inconsistencies in the process used at delivery
• the definition of “processed sample” in all chapters to address issues with samples submitted to the Canadian Grain Commission for official grades where dockage was already removed
• the composition of dockage to include insect parts and the definition for insect parts in the lentils, beans, chickpeas and fababeans chapters
• the composition of dockage to include the percentage of hulled seeds in dockage and the definition of foreign material and hulled seeds in the canary seed chapter

Jim Smolik with the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association says they’re in favour of most of the changes.

“We’re definitely in favour of moving to the science-based approach and anytime you move away from the visual testing and sort of that subjectivity to doing objectivity testing we’re definitely in favour of that and we think that’s the right direction and we want to see that continue.” Smolik said.

However, the Wheat Growers have one concern regarding test weight and total foreign material alignment for some wheat classes.

“While supportive of many of the changes, using the stringent export tolerances for test weights and total foreign matter at elevator driveways will be an area the Wheat Growers are watching” said President of the Wheat Growers Gunter Jochum in a statement.

“It is unclear how aligning primary elevator standards with export standards will benefit Canadian farmers. It would be appropriate for the CGC to share any economic impact studies these changes will have on producers.” the organization added.

The new standards come into effect August 1, 2023.