“I do think that we are seeing more durum being grown,” Kirk said. “I anticipate we will see some increased interest in durum with these newer, better varieties that are being released.”

WHY IT MATTERS: New ergot-resistant durum varieties could open doors for more Manitoba production while addressing Canadian export quality issues.

Manitoba isn’t exactly known for its durum production. According to Statistics Canada, Manitoba producers brought in 24,100 acres (9,800 hectares) worth last year, producing about 35,588 tonnes.

That’s a fraction of the rest of the Prairies. Saskatchewan alone harvested 5.11 million acres (2.07 million hectares), good for 4.48 million tonnes, while Alberta produced 1.29 million tonnes off of 1.17 million acres (475,400 hectares) in the same year.

Wetter conditions in the eastern Prairies, and the disease risk and associated quality concerns that comes with them, are a big reason for that divide. Mycotoxin-causing infections like fusarium and ergot are of particular concern, and Manitoba producers tend reach for less susceptible spring wheat varieties.

AAC Frontier enters the game

New genetics highlighted at the Ag in Motion farm show in Langham, Sask., July 15-17, looks to close that susceptibility gap.

AAC Frontier is being pitched as Canada’s first even ergot-resistant durum variety. It also brings intermediate resistance to fusarium head blight, as well as resistance for stem and stripe rust.

It was developed at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Swift Current station, under the guidance of lead breeder Yuefeng Ruan, and was officially registered last year. Commercial rights for the variety currently fall under SeCan.

“When talking to durum producers, they would say that (after) fusarium, ergot would be the No. 2 downgrading factor in durum wheat,” said Todd Hyra, SeCan’s business manager for Western Canada.

The variety is currently in the seed multiplication stage of full commercialization. Seed growers in southern Saskatchewan and Alberta have it growing, Hyra says, and its currently on track for commercial release in 2027.

Better genetics, same area

Even with a better disease package though, Kirk doesn’t expect that durum will suddenly explode to areas around the province.

More likely, she said, durum production will stay concentrated in the drier, southwest portion of Manitoba.

Trade assistance

Looking past Manitoba’s interest, the advent of better disease resistance may help Canadian durum growers on the world stage.

Moroccan grain processors, who buy Canadian durum wheat for couscous, prioritize the colour of imported grain.

Rachid Chamcham of the Federation Nationale De La Minoterie (National Millers Federation) in Morocco made that point during the 2025 Durum Summit in Swift Current this winter

“Moroccan millers look for semolina that boasts a vibrant, golden yellow colour — a hallmark of high-quality durum wheat,” Chamcham said.

“This is why they (millers) prefer Canadian amber durum wheat, particularly CWAD No. 1.”

That makes the dark, fungal sclerotia that are a hallmark of ergot an increasingly problematic issue.

Moroccan buyers examine semolina, the flour produced from durum wheat, for dark “specks.”

“Speck counting is often a mandatory quality control parameter, which ensures that the semolina meets customer specifications,” the Canadian Grain Commission said in a 2022 report on ergot in Canadian crops.

“The physical presence of the dark-coloured sclerotia … can negatively influence consumers’ acceptance of semolina and finished products.”

Ergot contamination on the rise

Ergot typically isn’t a significant threat to durum production in most years, but the grain commission report indicates that ergot occurrence has been rising since approximately 2010.

Between 1995 and 2009, ergot incidence (percentage of plants with symptoms) averaged 2.9 per cent in durum. The average incidence jumped to 13.1 per cent from 2010-20.

Additionally, durum wheat has a strict grading tolerance for ergot at just 0.02 per cent of net weight, creating a genuine concern that producers may face downgrading at elevator facilities.

With files from Robert Arnason. Updated July 23, 2025.

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If grain has been contaminated by the fungus, it will be refused for human consumption and sent to the livestock industry.

Darby Meyer, a graduate student at the University of Saskatchewan, has been continuing research into the use of ergot-affected grain for feedlot cattle.

“The first study we finished up in March of 2025,” she told a recent field day at the University of Saskatchewan’s Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence.

“It was looking at the impact of feeding ergot alkaloids at two parts per million, with and without the binder, to finishing feedlot cattle in the winter.”

WHY IT MATTERS: Mycotoxins can be a hidden threat cutting into cattle operations through their herd’s feed ration.

The binder is a mycotoxin deactivator from the Austrian company DSM, which is mixed with the grain to reduce the toxicity of the fungus Claviceps purpurea, wich causes ergot.

Mycotoxins are a secondary metabolite, meaning they help the fungus to continue to function. By deactivating them, the ergot can be more easily consumed and reduce effects on the animal consuming the affected grain.

The effects are important to address because they can cause serious harm. Common symptoms of ingesting ergot include vasoconstriction and the tightening of blood vessels, gangrene resulting in the loss of ears, tails and hoofs, and impaired ability to thermoregulate.

For the studies, cattle are monitored daily to ensure their health and well-being. As well, heat stress mitigation options have been added, such as extra water troughs and shade access.

The first study was not just on the impact of feeding ergot, but also on winter finishing instead of summer. That study comprised 180 steers in 12 pens with three feeding treatments: a control, ergot and ergot-binder mix.

It was a 126 day finishing period, and every three weeks steers were weighed and had lameness scores, hair coat scores and hair shedding scores recorded. On the first, middle and last day of the finishing period, blood samples, rectal temperatures, flight speeds and infrared thermal images were also recorded.

When processed, carcass quality parameters and yields were collected, and livers scored for abscesses.

“The results we saw from that study showed that the mycotoxin binder was effective for the first half of the study,” Meyer said.

“So the steers that were fed the ergot and the binder had similar average daily gains to the control animals, and then the animals that were fed just ergot had lower average daily gains than those animals.”

During the second half of the finishing period, the results flipped. Those fed ergot and binder had similar average daily gain to the ergot-only animals, and the control had higher average daily gain.

“What we did see was about a five per cent reduction in dry matter intake and also average daily gains,” she said about the last 63 days of the study.

“But the gain-to-feed ratio for all the treatments were very similar.”

Interestingly, a previous student’s study on the topic of ergot consumption saw a 10 per cent decrease in average daily gain and dry matter intake. That study had included 60 individually housed cattle in a feedlot, which were all fed the same ergot blend.

Meyer’s research has continued into the summer with a second round of animals for a summer finishing study.

Currently, there are 360 steers sorted into 24 pens at the centre for the trial, which started this January. The steers underwent a 21-day transition phase to slowly adjust from a high silage to a high grain diet.

The trial has expanded with six treatments: a control, control with binder, continuously fed ergot, continuously fed ergot-binder mix, intermittently fed ergot and intermittently fed ergot binder.

Each ergot diet is being fed at two parts per million.

“We thought it was important to have the intermittent treatments,” she said.

“Because in an actual feedlot setting, not necessarily every load of grain that the feedlot gets is going to be contaminated with ergot. So we thought it was important to be able to evaluate feeding it intermittently and compare it with our continuously fed control groups.”

For this study, there is the additional inclusion of feed intake measurements using the GrowSafe electronic feed bunk system. It takes measurements of feed by weight when filled and measures animal feed intake by how much feed disappears when the steer enters the bunk.

Individual intake is noted by a GrowSafe radio frequency identification tag in each animal’s ear.

At the end of April, the steers were re-randomized and began the finishing period.

With the randomization, a bit of each feed treatment was in each pen, and Meyers said that part of the study will be analyzing the various combinations. She expects there will be varying average daily gains due to the combinations and the effects of the treatments during the backgrounding stage.

It’s now near the halfway point of finishing, and the same tests as the winter finishing study will soon be underway.

Results are still to come, and they will be compared to the winter study to see if there are any additional differences.

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Reports of ergot have been coming into Manitoba Agriculture, according to provincial cereals specialist Anne Kirk.

“We definitely have seen some ergot this year,” she said. “Rye is most susceptible to ergot. Wheat would be kind of medium on susceptibility, then barley would be least susceptible to ergot in terms of the cereal crops.”

Triticale is also susceptible but oats are rarely affected. Ergot can also infect forage grasses including brome, timothy and fescue, although Kirk noted those infections tend to happen earlier in the season.

Why it matters: Ergot can reduce yield and cause grain marketing problems and mycotoxin issues if infected grain reaches the feed bunk.

Ergot overwinters as small, black fungal bodies in soil or stored grain for about a year. In spring or early summer, these bodies sprout into tiny fruiting structures that release spores. Spores are dispersed by wind, insects and rain, infecting open florets of host plants within range.

Within five days of finding a host, the infection moves to its next stage, the honeydew stage, says a Saskatchewan government fact page. This is when sticky, amber liquid starts to ooze from infected cereal florets. The substance attracts dust and pollen, giving the heads a dirty appearance.

As the season advances, infected heads start to show the hard, purple to black ergot structures that are a tell-tale sign of the fungus. These structures replace grain kernels.

Ergot bodies are often more concentrated at field edges and headlands, but can spread throughout the field if contaminated seed or prior infections are the vector.

Cool and damp conditions in late spring and early summer — such as Manitoba saw in May and June — favour the germination of ergot and prolong the flowering period, increasing the risk of infection. Self-pollinated crops like wheat are particularly affected, said David Kaminski, a field crop pathologist with Manitoba Agriculture.

“The reason we’re seeing (ergot) in some of the more self-pollinated crops like wheat (is because) when you have periods of prolonged rainfall, that causes the blooms to stay open for longer,” he said.

Managing risk

A field converted from hay may have a higher risk of ergot due to previous grass infections. Producers are advised to avoid planting fall rye in fields recently used for hay.

Ergot causes yield losses and potential grain downgrading, especially if contamination exceeds 0.25 per cent in wheat, according to Manitoba Agriculture’s website. Producers may want to delay swathing in headland areas to allow wind to clear out ergot bodies and separate these swaths, because they are likely to have higher contamination levels, the province noted.

Mature grain heads exposed to high winds can lose up to 70 per cent of the ergot bodies. Those bodies will then litter the ground, but they are generally not viable beyond a year.

Producers are advised to cut or burn adjacent grasses before they seed to eliminate the fungal foothold, Kirk said. Cleaning seed can remove ergot bodies, she added. Deep planting or storing seed for a year to reduce viability can also help.

Crop rotation plays a pivotal role. Producers should avoid planting wheat after rye and should maintain a gap of at least a year between susceptible crops like rye, triticale, wheat and barley.

There are no resistant varieties or effective fungicides against ergot, but Manitoba Agriculture notes that testing soil for copper levels and applying copper fertilizer can help manage the disease in wheat and barley.

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“We are seeing a bit of a shortage of trucks,” said Tracy Green of Market Master Ltd. in Edmonton, adding “things are still moving, just a lot of our truckers are booked right up.”

The end of the strike at Canadian National Railway (CN) will help the overall transportation situation, she added.

The logistics tightness did see feed prices rise over the past few weeks, with feed barley trading at about $235 per tonne delivered into the key Lethbridge feeding area.

Buyers were also short on contracts, due to the large amounts of tough grain coming off the field that needed to be dried.

Green said prices were leveling off now, as the higher prices have feedlots reverting to buying on a hand-to-mouth basis.

Demand typically increases over the winter months, as cattle eat more when the temperatures drop. However, farmer selling also picks up around the New Year as producers sell into the new tax year. Green expected those two conflicting forces would keep some stability in the market.

Beyond the supply/demand fundamentals, quality of the grain could become a larger concern going forward. Green said more ergot was showing up in feed wheat samples this year than normal, which will lead to downgrades and possible rejections if the levels are too high.

— Phil Franz-Warkentin reports for MarketsFarm, a Glacier FarmMedia division specializing in grain and commodity market analysis and reporting.

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Dry conditions in many regions of the Prairies and ergot in Manitoba are expected to drive down yields.

Jonathan Hull of The Scoular Co. said he has been hearing from farmers that yields could be off by 25 to 30 per cent compared to 2017, when 323,800 tonnes were harvested.

“It’s still pretty early for actual, actual yields, but farmers I talk to say it will be off that much.”

Once the crop is in the bin, he said, some farmers may discover the situation is less dire than that, but that’s what they are saying now.

Ergot problems were particularly pronounced around the Carman, Man. area, he said.

In 2016, Canadian farmers harvested 436,000 tonnes of rye; they harvested 225,500 tonnes in 2015, 217,500 tonnes in 2014, 222,900 in 2013.

Hull said growers have overproduced for the last two years so this year’s decline comes as no surprise.

“It was overproduced and so prices hit a low and then last year we ran into just moisture issues during planting so less people seeded,” he said.

Last fall, farmers planted 201,200 acres, according to Statistics Canada. That compares with 259,800 for the 2017 growing season and 370,540 for 2016.

Manitoba is Canada’s top rye-producing province with 114,300 tonnes harvested last year, compared to 113,000 tonnes in Saskatchewan, 48,000 tonnes in Ontario and 33,500 tonnes in Alberta, according to Statistics Canada data.

— Terry Fries writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Glacier FarmMedia company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.

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Ergot is a common grain fungus but some major buyers, including top global wheat importer Egypt, have rejected cargoes with even trace amounts in the past.

Though confirmed in only one area so far, according to grain merchants who spoke to Reuters, the fungus could be another headache for U.S. wheat growers whose grain has lost share in the world market due primarily to high prices.

North Dakota is the top growing U.S. state of spring wheat, a high-protein variety milled into flour for specialty breads, bagels and pizza dough.

A grain elevator operated by CHS Inc. at Sterling, N.D., about 300 km south of Boissevain, Man., was already rejecting some wheat deliveries, according to elevator manager Eric Basnett.

“It’s pretty prevalent. Some of the heavier loads we’ve been seeing are anywhere from 0.08 to a 1.15 (per cent ergot content). The limit with no discount is 0.05 or less,” Basnett said. “It’s definitely widespread this year.”

Basnett said the ergot could be more pronounced in early-harvested fields.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday said the U.S. spring wheat harvest was 35 per cent complete. In North Dakota, the harvest was 29 per cent done.

Wheat infected with ergot forces farmers to either sell their grain at hefty discounts, or set it aside until they can blend it with clean grain.

A grain elevator at Minto, N.D., about 100 km south of Altona, Man., reported seeing wheat with as much as 0.25 per cent ergot. Anything more than 0.1 per cent would be rejected, according to a notice sent to customers seen by Reuters.

“It seems like conditions were perfect this year (and) we are seeing more than we normally do,” said Penny Nester, a crop expert at North Dakota State University.

She said some elevators must levy discounts or reject loads due to a big U.S. spring wheat harvest.

“It’s a supply and demand situation; right now we have a lot of wheat coming in, so they can be choosy about what they accept,” Nester said.

— Reporting for Reuters by Julie Ingwersen; writing by Michael Hirtzer.

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Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer, baffled grain markets when it began imposing a zero-tolerance level on ergot in 2016, prompting suppliers to boycott state tenders until the country re-instated a tolerance of up to 0.05 per cent ergot in cargoes, a common international standard.

The total fungus ban was lifted, only for a lower administrative court to reinstate it, citing health concerns.

That ban was never adopted at Egypt’s ports, as the government appealed the decision and said it would continue to permit up to 0.05 per cent in cargoes during the appeal process.

Confusion over the ergot policy has at times prompted major international suppliers to shun tenders and add hefty risk premiums to their offers, so any final court ruling could ease traders doing business with the mega-grain buyer.

According to the Canadian Grain Commission, Egypt’s imports of Canadian wheat from licensed elevators sat at around just 8,000 tonnes in the 2015-16 crop year and near nil in 2016-17, down from 56,300 tonnes in 2014-15 and 405,000 back in 2010-11.

Egypt’s agriculture ministry said earlier this year it would form a committee to revise legislation governing the work of the agricultural quarantine authority, the primary government agency that had pushed for a blanket ergot ban.

— Reporting for Reuters by Maha Eldahan; writing by Eric Knecht. Includes files from AGCanada.com Network staff.

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Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer, issued a decree last year permitting wheat imports with up to 0.05 per cent ergot, a common international standard, following a near year-long standoff with suppliers who refused to do business after the country banned the fungus entirely.

The administrative court on Tuesday ruled that the decree was invalid, potentially restoring a zero tolerance standard that led to boycotts of state grain tenders last year after traders said it was impossible to guarantee.

The court said in its ruling on Tuesday that the prime minister was not legally authorized to issue last year’s decree because his office was not the competent authority governing import rules for agricultural products, said Tarek Al-Awadi, a lawyer who raised the case.

“The prime minister issued a decision last year, and the ruling today cancels that decision and orders the suspension of importing of any cargo infected with ergot, whether now or in the future, if it contains any percentage of ergot,” said Awadi.

An Egyptian court earlier this year ordered the suspension of a new food inspection system launched to streamline trade in response to the ergot row, but that court decision has never been implemented by the government.

Awadi said the government must give effect to Tuesday’s court decision even pending an appeal process and unless it is overturned by the country’s higher administrative court.

The supply ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

— Reporting for Reuters by Eric Knecht and Maha El Dahan.

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• It has added an ergot tolerance of 0.05 per cent in all grades of fababeans and chickpeas;
• Changed the tolerance for grasshopper and army worm damage from eight per cent to six per cent in No. 3 Canada Western Red Spring, No. 3 Canada Western Hard White Spring and No. 3 Canada Northern Hard Red wheat.

The tolerance for grasshopper and army worm damage was tightened after research showed that eight per cent grasshopper and army worm damage can impact end-use functionality.

The commission is posting an up-to-date Official Grain Grading Guide on its website July 28, 2017. The updated guide comes into effect August 1, 2017.

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The government’s new food inspection system simplified trade after a nearly year-long row over the quarantine service’s zero-tolerance approach to ergot. Traders had said they could not guarantee zero trace and boycotted tenders, effectively shutting off the world’s biggest wheat importer from the grain trade.

The new inspection regime, launched this year, applied a more common global standard, allowing 0.05 per cent of ergot in shipments and helping regular state grain tenders to proceed.

But an Egyptian court this month ordered that the new system be suspended, although the government said it would appeal that decision and keep its inspection system in place as it did so.

The court’s written verdict, seen by Reuters on Thursday, said the new system “resulted in a breach of the (import) requirements stipulated by the agriculture ministry’s quarantine service, which banned the entry of wheat shipments containing pests that are prohibited from entering the country, including the fungus ergot.”

This opens the possibility that the quarantine service could restore its zero-tolerance rule. However, for now, the government has not empowered the quarantine service to do so.

After last year’s trade row, Egypt moved the inspection process away from the quarantine service to the trade ministry’s General Organization for Export and Import Control (GOEIC).

The agriculture ministry said last week it would not return inspection authority to its quarantine service.

A group of quarantine inspectors had challenged the new system in court, arguing it illegally handed inspections to a body ill-equipped to oversee the process, allowing imports to enter with hazardous contaminants harmful to animals and plants.

Lawyers who raised the case said the government was obliged to suspend its new inspection system during an appeal, a process that could take months.

Egypt’s state grain buyer GASC has continued its purchases on Thursday, ordering 175,000 tonnes of Romanian and Ukrainian wheat at international tender.

The purchase reflects the government’s insistence that it would not re-impose the outright ban on ergot, despite the court ruling.

Egypt said it expected wheat imports to reach about 6.2 million tonnes in the financial year starting July in a bid to boost strategic reserves for its subsidized bread programme. Egypt typically imports about 5.5 million tonnes a year.

Earlier this week, Egypt said it bought 3.4 million tonnes of local wheat from farmers, just short of the government target of about 3.5 million to four million tonnes.

— Reporting for Reuters by Arwa Gaballa and Eric Knecht in Cairo; additional reporting by Maha El Dahan in Dubai.

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