b"A NEW TOOL HELPING YOU IN THE REALM OF RETAIL SEED SALES.MIDGE TOLERANT WHEAT: WHATS NEWHeading into its 12th year, theres always something exciting happening in midge tolerant wheat development. We find out the latest in agronomics, testing and research.Marc ZienkiewiczMore people than ever are growing midgeOn the flip side, with more people growing tolerant wheat. There are more midge tolerantit, it must become more important than ever varieties available than ever before. Why hasto ensure people know how to protect the this technology taken off like this? technology. I think the simple answer is the varie- Absolutely. When we launched the prod-Todd Hyra ties are just that good. Historically, backucts 12 years ago, we added the Midge Western Business Manager when we launched the first midge toler- Tolerant Wheat Stewardship requirement, SeCan ant varieties, wheat growers had to givewhich requires producers to sign an agree-Todd develops new businessup something to get midge tolerance. Thement saying that theyll only save seed one opportunities for SeCanvarieties were a little taller. They had strawgeneration past certified. That ensures that members and industrymanagement or straw strength issues tothe refuge variety that is built in remains partners. manage. Some of the first varieties didntin balance. We know based on experience have the best fusarium ratings. Withthat when wheat midge are at high levels, this latest generation of midge tolerantthey can take out half of the refuge quite wheat, we have short, strong straw, wequickly. We must ensure that the refuge have fusarium tolerance. Its as good asstays in balance, and that this technology anything else in the industry, and theis going to be around for future genera-yields have always been really good, too.tions. Models show that it could be around Combine the all of that, and then overlayfor up to 90 years. That means we have the fact that these varieties also have built- around 78 years left for this technology. in insect protection, and it becomes a veryWe still have not identified a breakdown, easy decision to say, Well, why wouldntand we want to keep it that way. There I plant a midge tolerant variety? Theare other tools coming, but we don't know populations of midge are there in the soil,whether there will be agronomic bag-and just need the right conditions. Backgage that goes along with those. Right in the spring, we did actually have rain- now, weve got really good varieties that falls around the May long weekend acrossare performing well for western Canadian much of the Prairies which would triggerfarmers, and we dont want to lose that.the emergence of midge in a big way. POLLSSome insights gleaned during our recent webinar. Have you grown midgeYES 50% Have you ever used the MidgeYES 29%tolerant wheat? NO 50% Tolerant Wheat Assurance Site? NO 71%34GERMINATION.CASEPTEMBER 2021"