Going With The Grains

By Brenda Frick, Ph.D., P.Ag.

Recently Brent Bambury of CBC’s weekend show “GO” discovered Tim Horton’s 12 grain bagel. He wondered if there really could be 12 different grains. The Tim Horton’s representative he interviewed did confirm this diversity . What’s even more amazing though, Brent is that it would be possible to make a bagel with at least 15 organic prairie grains. Here on the Canadian prairies we grow organic wheat (hard red spring wheat, Canadian Prairie spring wheat, and red winter wheat), organic durum, organic barley, organic oats, organic rye (spring and fall), organic triticale (pronounced tritikaly), organic kamut, organic spelt, organic buckwheat, organic flax (brown and golden), organic hemp, organic wild rice, organic corn, organic quinoa (pronounced keenwa), and organic red millet. If we were to add some legume flour and spice seed, we could keep it prairie, but up the nutrition, the flavour and the grain count. The diversity of prairie grains is truly amazing.

Diversity of organic grains was the research topic for two recent studies on the prairies. Jackie Pridham of the University of Manitoba and Amy Kaut of the University of Alberta have both recently completed Masters projects looking at growing grains in various combinations. Jackie contends that by increasing diversity in agricultural systems, we mimic nature, and that this will help to reduce the dominant weeds. Amy adds that the use of mixtures could stabilize yields, particularly when disease resistant and high yielding varieties are mixed.

Jackie tested three types of crop combinations: cereal mixtures such as wheat and oat, mixtures of wheat and a non cereal grain such as flax, and mixtures of wheat and a cover crop such as red clover. She also had a test where different wheat varieties were grown together. Jackie found that wheat mixed with other crops suffered less disease than wheat grown alone. Several of her mixtures were more productive in total than her plots with wheat alone. She also found that some mixtures had greater economic return than the wheat alone, even when the mixtures were charged a seed cleaning and separating cost. The seed cleaning phase is crucial. Despite the various benefits of mixtures, including those multi-grain bagels, most buyers discount crops that are not of a single type.

Amy focused on mixing different varieties of wheat. By staying in a single classification of wheat, she eliminated the need for seed cleaning, and thus one of the major costs of mixtures. Amy included short, medium height and tall wheats among her mixtures. The mixtures had good leaf production, early season vigour, and powdery mildew resistance, but under weedy conditions, none of the mixtures were able to significantly suppress weeds. Then again, none of the single varieties did either. Yield of the mixtures tended towards the highest yielding of the members of the mix, with the Superb-Intrepid mix doing especially well. This is notable in that Superb is a modern semi-dwarf wheat, and it has been thought that taller varieties and heritage varieties might be the best options for organic cultivation.

Heather Mason, a PhD student at the University of Alberta compared the yield of different varieties of wheat in organic systems. She selected varieties that differed in height, tillering and time to maturity. They also varied in when the variety was released, from late 1800s to early 2000s. She found that height, early season vigour and early maturity were characteristics that were important for weed suppression. Older and taller varieties such as Katepwa and Park had good yield and good weed suppression. A recently developed semidwarf variety, CDC Go, had the highest yields overall but it did not suppress weeds as well as the older varieties. Red Fife, a tall, late maturing heritage variety was high yielding in one year, but not in the other. In general, over all varieties, Heather found that doubling the seeding rate increased yield, decreased weeds and increased economic returns.

Roxanne Beavers, Masters student at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College conducted a large scale study on organic farms across Canada. Farmers seeded cereals at conventionally recommended rates, and at increased rates. She found, in general that the higher seeding rates resulted in higher yields. This corresponds well with the usual organic recommendation that seeding rates be increased over conventional, and with the conventional literature that suggests that higher seeding rates reduce weed pressures.

Heather Mason took her study a step further, and asked if there were differences in baking quality between organic and conventional wheats, and between varieties when they were grown on organic farms. Heather did find differences. Wheat grown under organic management had similar protein levels, but higher dough strength than wheat grown under conventional management. Conventional wheat had higher test weight and gluten strength. These results suggested that organically managed wheats can be used with good results in conventional bread making.

Heather’s study indicated that some quality factors were related more to variety than to management. She also showed that some varieties performed better, in terms of bread making quality when grown under organic management. This raises the possibility that breeding programs might be able to develop wheat specifically for high quality bread potential under organic management. In Heather’s study, the modern varieties had the highest baking quality. The heritage variety, Red Fife had the poorest baking quality. Such heritage varieties are more suited to artisan breads than to production of the conventional light and fluffy breads of the conventional marketplace.

There is a very useful role that cereal breeders might play in continuing to develop weed suppressive, disease resistant varieties. Dean Spaner, wheat breeder at University of Alberta (and Heather’s and Amy’s research supervisor) manages a portion of the university farm organically and partners with organic producers so that he can develop and test varieties under organic management.

Martin Entz, agronomist at University of Manitoba (and Jackie’s research supervisor) has developed an organic cropping research lab, including a full 6 year organic rotation with each crop present in each year. He invites researchers to expand their interest in organic research by using plots at the appropriate stage in his rotation. Stephen Fox, wheat breeder at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada uses this lab to develop wheat, bred under organic conditions. Fred Townley-Smith, scientist emeritus and Jennifer Mitchell Fetch, oat breeder at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada are developing oat collections at the organic cropping lab that are specially suited to organic conditions.

At the University of Saskatchewan, plant breeders such as Pierre Hucl and Gord Rowland, working with agronomist Steve Shirtliffe, partner with organic farmers to test new materials on organic farms. The collaboration between Gord and Steve is particularly interesting. Gord is selecting shorter season flax varieties and Steve is examining how these fit into an organic management that includes delayed seeding. Delayed seeding is a common weed management technique for organic farmers. It allows them to eliminate the first flush of weeds, and give the crop a head start. Flax is not an aggressive crop. It does best with some weed management, but delaying seeding means delaying harvest, and with flax this can be problematic. By combining breeding and agronomic expertise and working under organic management, they are addressing real problems for organic producers.

These studies suggest that organic farmers can decrease weeds and diseases while increasing or stabilizing grain yields on their farms by using management factors such as seeding rate, variety selection, and perhaps by mixing varieties and crop types. Researchers can increase the options for organic producers by partnering with them, and by testing under organic conditions. Together, farmers and researchers can work towards maintaining the sort of high quality that the baker and consumer expect.

In the end, quality is everything, according to Mark Gimby, buyer for Growers International. The organic market is a still a sellers market if the quality is there – high protein in wheat and durum, good weight and condition in oats and barley. When the quality isn’t there, the market opportunities plummet. How can a farmer achieve good quality? Most producers know what is required: good solid agronomy. Green manures boost nitrogen levels which help keep protein levels high. Green manures also reduce the weeds and improve soil quality. Of course, it also helps to have good weather. In some years no amount of management is enough. Recent conditions on the prairies have resulted in an abundance of low quality grain that is languishing in the bin. But with good management, solid support from research, and a little luck in the weather, prairie farmers are poised to bring their high quality products to markets around the world.

 

Brenda Frick, Ph.D., P.Ag., is the Prairie Coordinator for OACC (the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada) at the College of Agriculture, University of Saskatchewan. She welcomes your comments at 306-966-4975 or via email at brenda.frick@usask.ca.

 

This article was originally published by Canadian Organic Growers (COG), and OACC gratefully acknowledges COG for permission to post it on our website.

Posted January 2007