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Photo:CamBarlow

Ron DePauw producedmore than 65 wheat varieties with his teamduring his 41-year career.

Continued from page 27.

“This was only possible through having

an incredible team at SPARC. You have all

of these amazing people who contribute

to this. It gets to be very complex,” said

DePauw. “It’s mind-boggling the amount

of effort that goes into something like

this.”

WHEAT WORLDWIDE

The majority of Canada’s annual wheat

crop is exported to countries around the

world. Canada’s sterling reputation for

consistency and quality is what attract

international buyers to our grains.

“It really goes back to what the

consumer wants. Our consumer wants

big, beautiful, soft bread that also has

strength and butterability, or crumb

strength,” said Adam Dyck, the program

manager for Warburtons in Winnipeg.

The U.K. bakery is only slightly younger

than Canada at 140 years of age, and for

each and every year it’s been in business,

it’s used Canadian wheat. “We’re a

premium brand in the U.K., quality

is what we’re known for,” said Dyck.

“The Canadian wheat that we source

is the backbone to that quality and the

consistency that we’re able to deliver

with every shipment to the U.K. That’s in

every loaf of bread.”

Each year, Warburtons purchases

200,000 tonnes of Canadian wheat that

is grown by 600 different Prairie farmers

in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. That top-

quality Canadian wheat is blended with a

lower-quality U.K. winter wheat in order

to create a grist, or flour, that will satisfy

customer demand.

With more than 100 products using

Canadian wheat, such as crumpets, pan

bread, sandwich thins and wraps, it’s the

diverse varieties grown in Canada that

afford Warburtons the ability to branch

out and experiment with its products.

“What the Canadian wheat offers us is

the ability to try new things,” said Dyck.

JoAnne Buth is the executive director

at the Canadian International Grains

Institute (Cigi) in Winnipeg where her

organization works tirelessly to promote

wheat worldwide. In her mind, Canada’s

storied wheat quality comes down to

two things. “When we talk about the

quality it’s the gluten, both the strength

and extensibility,” she said. “You’ll see

other wheats that are stronger, but don’t

have the extensibility. If you’re pulling on

something, you want it very elastic.”

Aside from the milling and baking

characteristics, the colour of wheat is just

as important to international grain buyers

and consumers.

Canada Western Amber Durum

wheat has been bred to have a vibrant

yellow hue, popular among North

African countries, such as Morocco,

Tunisia and Algeria, where couscous

reigns supreme. The colour is a novel

adaptation by Canadian durum breeders

over the last 25 years who developed

specific varieties resulting in the distinct

colouration when compared to historical

varieties. The three nations alone

imported a combined 1.85 million metric

tonnes (MMT) of wheat last year. “Colour

is so important for their couscous and

pasta products, they want a bright

yellow colour,” said Buth. “The Canadian

product is highly valued.”

Other top markets for our durum

include Italy at an average of 900 MMT,

the U.S. with 381 MMT and Venezuela

at 300 MMT. Our bread wheats have

an even larger and more diversified

market base, such as Japan with 1.4 MMT,

Indonesia at 1.28 MMT, Bangladesh at

916 MMT, Colombia at 837 MMT and Sri

Lanka at 591 MMT on average each year.

With wheat an essential part

of people’s daily bread both in

Canada and around the world, it

is a homegrown success story that

all began with perhaps the most

unlikely hero, Charles Saunders. In

their book,

The Canadian 100: The

100 Most Influential Canadians of the

20th Century

, historians H. Graham

Rawlinson and J.L. Granatstein wrote

of Charles: “Saunders made possible

the prosperity of the Prairies, and he is

entitled to stand first among the most

influential Canadians of the century.”

The Food Issue

2017

grainswest.com

45