Oat growers wishing to market to Grain Millers will no longer be able to use glyphosate as a fall-applied desiccant.
On April 20, the company which owns several oat milling facilities including one here at Yorkton sent out a memo stating it will no longer accept any oats and/or oat products which have been treated with glyphosate.
Terry Tyson, Grain Millers procurement manager in Yorkton, Sask. told Yorkton This Week the change was driven by functional performance attributes of finished products manufactured from oats known to have been treated with glyphosate.
Tyson said some feedback has suggested the company is doing this in reaction to a changing philosophy regarding chemical use, but that is not the case.
“This has nothing to do with philosophy,” he said. “It’s a functional quality issue if glyphosate is applied incorrectly.”
The problem in terms of milling is two-fold, said Tyson.
“We experience chalky, brittle groats and flakes,” he said, adding the effect is much like that if oats are frozen in the field when too green in the fall.
The issue is something they began to see three, or four years ago, and it has grown as a problem to the point the company went looking for answers, finally trailing it to glyphosate applied too early in the fall.
Broken flakes means added dust, and changes the way the oats may react in baking, as an example the way it absorbs moisture, said Tyson, adding that was an issue for the company’s customers.
While the impact in milling is akin to frosted oats, unlike frost damage, the influence of glyphosate “is subtle enough we can’t see it at the pit (where farmers deliver).”
A second issue has also been attributed to oats which had an improperly timed fall-application of glyphosate.
“It drops the beta glucan levels,” said Tyson, adding that is most worrisome as “that particular little compound is a dietary fibre which allows labelling as heart healthy.”
The move away from accepting oats where glyphosate if applied in the fall is a significant step for Grain Millers as many growers who straight combine oats use glyphosate to hasten and even up crop maturity.
Tyson estimated at the Yorkton plant probably 40 per cent of oats bought in the last few years have had glyphosate fall-applied.
The new policy will come into effect with new crop deliveries this fall, said Tyson, adding contract already inked will be honoured, but new contacts will require assurances, such as an affidavit signed by the producer.
The change will be a large one for producers, said Tyson who admitted using glyphosate in the fall is nearly the cultural norm for Prairies farmers who use it as a time management tool.
There are no other chemicals approved for the role, he added.
It will mean farmers need to look at earlier seeding dates to allow more time in fall for natural dry down and maturing of oat crops before harvest, said Tyson.
Farmers wanting more information on the change can call Tyson at Grain Millers in Yorkton at 306-786-4682.
