New AAC Raymore - the solid choice for Durum

It's always exciting to be offering out a new variety for the first time and this year we have a few new ones.  One of these newly released varieties is AAC Raymore, the first solid stem durum variety in Canada.

2013 crop (our 2014 crop got hailed on before we could get a
 good picture)

AAC Raymore is very similar to AC® Strongfield in yield and most other traits, in fact Strongfield is a parent of Raymore.  It is one day earlier than Strongfield in maturity and a tad bit shorter with the same lodging rating.

The seed guide shows Raymore to have a bit higher protein than Strongfield and we saw this ourselves as our Raymore sample had the highest protein of the durums we grew last year.

The nice thing about Raymore, though, is that it offers an insurance policy,so to speak, against sawfly if you live in an area that has had sawfly issues in the past.

Sawfly is less of an issue in southern Alberta than it used to be, but as a cyclical pest we can expect sawfly to return especially when conditions are dryer.  Tight wheat rotations and dry conditions contribute to sawfly.

One other thing to note for those of you who weren't happy with AC Lillian's solid stem trait which is affected by environmental conditions: Field observations indicate that AAC Raymore is very reliably solid-stemmed.

We did get some hail on our Raymore this year so we don't have as much to offer out as we would like but we do have some AAC Raymore available.  Give us a call to book some seed or for more info.

Also see this video from Jim Downey at Secan on AAC Raymore

So What's Special About Transcend Durum

We are getting alot of calls about AC® Transcend durum.  The word is out about this variety and it is selling itself.

If you look in the 2014 Alberta Seed Guide, Transcend yields more than AC® Strongfield but not significantly - only by 2% on average. So why are people so excited about this variety?

Well I think it is a combination of things: anecdotal evidence seems to indicate a higher yield advantage of Transcend over Strongfield than what we see in the seed guide. It's easy to harvest and has a good disease resistance package.

Transcend has impressed us in a number of ways.  Yield has been good but we haven't had a side by

side comparison of it to other durums so we can't fairly comment on the relative yield. It was a beautiful looking field and the sample had a nice rich amber color. However, we ended up with a nasty mid-harvest hail/rain storm which cut our yeilds.  I will say that the field stood up pretty well despite the hail.

We have a decent supply of Transcend.  We think pricing will be high but with the ever changing market place we haven't finalized prices yet.  If you want us to hold some for you, let us know and we will set some aside until we have set pricing and then you can decide whether to take or leave it.

For more info on Transcend, you can also check out this video from FP Genetics on the variety.