The ongoing history of wheat in Ontario

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Earlier this year, when C & M Seeds hosted its 30th anniversary wheat industry day, the company asked RealAgriculture to do something pretty cool. C & M asked RealAgriculture to share what the last several decades of the wheat industry in Ontario has looked like, and how it has evolved to where it is today.

RealAgriculture’s Shaun Haney and Peter “Wheat Pete” Johnson presented the history of wheat together: from the entry of red wheat into the market and the shift in mentality involving the value chain, to the removal of the central desk for marketing, and on to fusarium control progress.

Beginning with “The Evolution of the Red Wheat Revolution,” the story is one of changing tastes and value chain cooperation. In the early days, Johnson explains, the market was primarily dominated by soft white winter wheat, because of the preference of white white by millers.

“They didn’t want red wheat because they’d never dealt with it,” says Johnson, adding that red bran was not preferred in products either.

As Johnson explains, the view of how profitable wheat could be — from poverty grass to prosperity grass — involves better yields, higher quality, and less fusarium. Johnson says that the evolution of wheat is ongoing.

Follow along with this fascinating conversation, featuring video clips with C & M Seeds’ John McLaughlin, Ellen Sparry, Terry Ross, and Ken Nixon. Dr. Dave Hooker of the University of Guelph, and Joanna Follings of OMAFRA, also make an appearance:

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