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Forecaster sees a ‘drier bias’

Bull Buyers Guide Bulls from across the Prairies » Pg 37

But like last year, could change » Pg 20

SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 73, No. 10 | $1.75 March 5, 2015 manitobacooperator.ca

Mulch, mice and ‘the man problem’ hold up CA adoption Women are interested in producing food while men are more interested in growing cash crops using conventional methods

Faller, Prosper recommended for interim registration The endorsement signals new flexibility in the registration system as neither fits any of Western Canada’s current wheat classes

By Laura Rance Co-operator editor/ Chibojola Village, Mpherembe, Malawi

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fter three years of producing maize using conservation agriculture, Nkasauka Nthala is a convert. The yields from her tiny .16-hectare plot of maize grown using direct seeding instead of hoeing were 166 per cent above the yields of maize grown under conventional practices. See MALAWI on page 6 »

The Prairie Recommending Committee for Wheat, Rye and Triticale (PRCWRT) endorsed Faller and Prosper, two high-yielding American milling wheats, for a three-year interim registration during its annual meeting in Banff last week.   photo: allan dawson By Allan Dawson

Publication Mail Agreement 40069240

co-operator staff/Banff

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aller and sister variety Prosper, both high-yielding American Dark Northern Spring wheats, have been recommended for a three-year interim registration, marking a seismic shift in Western Canada’s wheat registration system. Faller has been grown under identify preserved (IP) contracts in Manitoba for two years. The Prairie Recommending Committee for Wheat, Rye and Triticale, a panel of

experts that assesses new wheats and advises the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) on whether to register them, endorsed Faller and Prosper at its annual meeting here Feb. 26. It’s the system flexibility Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz has pushed for since farmers called for access to higher-yielding wheats after the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly ended. It comes just as the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC), which has a statutory mandate to protect Canadian wheat quality, starts to review the system which segregates wheats by end-use quality.

CFIA is expected to grant interim registration. If so, starting this spring it will be easier for Manitoba farmers to grow the popular varieties that outyield Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) wheats by 20 to 25 per cent. However, it’s not clear yet whether farmers will still need IP contracts. “ We’ll have to discuss what the CGC would like to do with that,” John Smith, owner of Seed Depot, the company that holds distribution rights to the varieties developed at North See WHEAT CLASSES on page 7 »

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