Quality an Issue for Ontario Winter Wheat Crop

Yields are surprisingly good, but quality is turning out to be a bugaboo for Ontario winter wheat producers this year. 

Real Agriculture agronomist Peter Johnson said in an email message Wednesday that overly wet conditions since harvest have taken a toll, including sprouting, declining test weights, and a drop in falling numbers in particular. Falling numbers were generally well over 300 at the beginning of harvest but have now slumped to under 200 in some cases, he said. 

When wheat begins to sprout in the head prior to harvest, the quality of the seed can degrade quickly, negatively impacting the resulting products, such as bread or cookies. Falling number helps to measure that quality decline. Typically, 250 is considered the critical number, with anything lower potentially rejected by the mill or bakery. 

“Keeping the wheat harvest ahead of a low falling number problem has been a challenge,” Johnson said, adding that even some of the Soft Red crop – in addition to a bigger portion of the Soft White crop – is experiencing sprouting problems. 

Not surprisingly, the quality problems are hurting the producer price at the elevator. Talk in the trade suggests a falling number between 225 and 249 could result in a discount of between $10 and $30/tonne, with one location apparently outright rejecting anything lower than 250. Visible sprouts are likely to result in even deeper discounts. (Producers should always do their own research before pricing their wheat). 

In the July 19 edition of his crop hotline, Johnson encouraged growers to try to get their winter wheat crops out of the field as quickly as possible to lessen the quality damage. 

On the other hand, yields have been a generally good news story, despite hot and dry conditions throughout most of June. Some growers are setting records, Johnson said, although he admitted others are seeing just mediocre harvest results 

“Yields can go from 130 bu/acre in the good spots to 30 bu on the sand knolls in the same field. Overall, most growers are very happy with yields, and I expect the final number will be above average. . .” 

Ontario has an estimated 1.06 million winter wheat acres for harvest this year, up from just under 849,000 a year earlier. Last year’s production and average yield came in at 2.22 million tonnes and 96.5 bu/acre. 

A large portion of the 2023 crop is off in the deep southwest part of the province, but much less heading northward.