Alberta Wheat Commission releases new variety

Sep 05, 2018

AAC Crossfield will be available this fall for 2019 planting

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

Wheat producers will have access to a new variety this fall for use next season.

The Alberta Wheat Commission and CANTERRA SEEDS have launched AAC Crossfield, a new Canada Prairie Spring Red (CPSR) variety.

AAC Crossfield is the first variety released from the commission’s unique public, private and producer partnership (4-P). The Alberta Wheat Commission represented the producers, CANTERRA SEEDS the private sector and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) represented the public in the variety’s development.

Under the partnership, CANTERRA SEEDS provides technical and field support for new varieties and AWC receives a share of royalties on varieties created through the program.

Dr. Harpinder Randhawa, an AAFC research scientist, leads the partnership’s breeding initiatives.

“The relationship between the three sectors shows a cooperation that we all believe in working together, and that when we do, great things can happen,” Kevin Bender, chair of the Alberta Wheat Commission, told Farms.com today.

AAC Crossfield is early-maturing, high-yielding, semi-dwarf and is suitable for all growing zones. It also has intermediate resistance to fusarium head blight and is resistant to stripe rust, leaf rust and stem rust.

The variety also has a higher protein content for improved milling and baking quality.

“AAC Crossfield looks like a very good variety,” Bender said. “It looks to be very high-yielding, can stand up a little better than some others and responds very well to inputs. Farmers are able to bump up their fertilizer rates without having it lodge.”

Farms.com has reached out to Dr. Randhawa for more information on AAC Crossfield.

mareanmare/iStock/Getty Images Plus photo

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