Canada: Canary seed gains official ‘grain’ status

MarketsFarm — No longer just for the birds, canary seed will soon gain official status under the Canada Grain Act, the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) announced Wednesday. Following stakeholder consultations and calls from producers the CGC is implementing regulatory changes for the crop effective Aug. 1. The move to official status was good news to Darren Yungmann, chair of the Canaryseed Development Commission of Saskatchewan and a farmer at St. Gregor, east of Humboldt. The organization had made the call for including the crop at its annual meeting in January 2020, after the failure of a grain company the previous year left many producers without any recourse after they were unpaid for their deliveries. “It will be like all other grains,” said Yungmann. Processors and buyers dealing with canary seed will need to be properly bonded, he said, allowing for greater protections for farmers, and increased standards for grading will also be welcomed. With 273,000 acres planted to the ...