Canada is recognized in the international marketplace as a reliable supplier of consistent, high-quality wheat, a brand image that has been successfully developed since the early 1900s. Canada’s success at wheat quality assurance is related to a complex set of institutional arrangements which have constrained the adoption of certain higher-yielding varieties.

Some stakeholders in the grain industry are concerned that Canada’s approach sacrifices too much yield to maintain this level of branding. This issue of the Bi-weekly Bulletin reports on the results of a statistical analysis that compared the yield and protein level of Canadian and United States (US) hard red spring (HRS) wheat lines grown side-by side in the Hard Red Spring Wheat Uniform Regional Nursery (HRSWURN) cooperative nursery program administered by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). Data from 1995 to 2004 point to a yield advantage of 1.83 bushels per acre (bu/ac) or 3.68% for US HRS wheat lines but a protein advantage of 0.417% for Canadian HRS wheat lines. Given the well-known inverse relationship between protein content and yield, the results suggest that the US yield advantage is offset by the Canadian protein advantage.

Complete report in PDF format: http://www.seedquest.com/News/releases/2005/pdf/12809.pdf