CWHW

[kenzie]

Has anyone had any experiences, good or bad growing hard white wheat? I am thinking of trying Snowbird.

[TOM4CWB]

Kenzie;

Make sure you have a agreement with your marketer that they will Accept CWRW as domestic feed wheat at par to CWRS/CPS.

A person cannot afford to sell CWHW to the CWB as Feed wheat at $50-80/t under fair market value.

Two years ago feed mills would not take it as feed wheat... and many elevators were discounting it $25/t to the domestic feed market.

[Pen-Dale]

We grew Snowbird last year in Western Manitoba. It yielded about about equal to the very best fields of Barrie but about 4 - 5 bus/ac less than Superb. We straight cut all our wheat and Snowbird did not stand up well. A lot was lodged and more difficult to cut. They were supposed to take delivery in the first delivery period but it is still in the bin.

[Everest]

Thanks for the tips on this thread. Was thinking of growing some as well. But with the way things are going with IP and specialty contracts (see Nexera not Moving thread), its probably not a good idea to have too many of these.

I certainly hope that buyers, including the CWB, tighten up their side of the contractual arrangements. Farmers cannot be saddled with all of the uncertainties and risk, or these crops won't ever get to the next level of commercialization.

Are there any others with experiences or ideas to pass on? They would be very much appreciated.

[kenzie]

I have been informed by AFSC that this type of wheat is uninsurable at this time! So much for diversification. Unfortunately I have to depend in Insurance much more that I'd like to. My initial inquiry was to see if I could transfer my CWRS index to this class of wheat.

[TOM4CWB]

Kenzie;

SOmeone has given you BAD ONFO!

I called my local AFSC as well as the AFSC Call centre... they both say it will be insurable most likely like it was in 2003.

THe deal in Alberta is this:

Kanata and Snowbird are both registered varieties... insured as CWRS... because of the low volumes of CWHW. In 2003 there was no grade loss provisions on the Snowbird or Kanata.... which might (or might not) change in 2004.

Hope this helps!

[boone]

Post: Your right tom4cwb I've grown it twice 3 years ago Ivory (264) and this year Snowbird. Snowbird is shorter, semidwarf? Ivory was exceptional yield.
Expensive to seed, Bird has flown 2 month ago and Ivory's storage cheque was nice sum. I's going to be part of your future embrace it! Snowbird suffered with sawfly extensively.