Red Fife wheat

Red Fife is a heritage variety of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) that David Fife and family began to grow in 1842 In Peterborough Ontario. Legend goes that a friend of Mr. Fife collected a sample of seed from a ship in the Glasgow port. There is no way to prove the origin of the seed that became Red Fife when it came to Canada.

It might have originated in Turkey, then moved across the Black Sea to the Ukraine where the Mennonite farmers grew it from the late 1700s to mid 1800s when it was shipped to Glasgow, where a friend of David Fife's found it, sent a sample of seed to Fife in Ontario. But it's impossible to prove because the wheat genetics change season to season as the genetics interact with the soil and environment, creating the 'terroir' of the variety for that year and from that field.

Mr. Fife grew out the seed, shared the seed with other farmers and called the wheat 'Red Fife' because the kernals were red and his name was Fife.

Red Fife wheat is a 'living artifact' that is part of Canada's living history, cultural and agricultural heritage. Red Fife seed arrived in Canada when Canadian lands were being opened for producing wheat. Red Fife seed adapted to a great diversity of growing conditions across Canada. It was the baking and milling industry standard for 40 years from 1860-1900. Plant breeders continue to use the genetics of Red Fife to make new varieties of bread wheat.

The idea to reintroduce it and try and recommercialize it came from Sharon Rempel and Cuyler Page in the late 1980s. The ideas for a Heritage Wheat Project, branding on each farmer's crop of Red Fife, Seedy Saturday seed fairs, a Bread and Wheat Festival all with a focus to encourage people to conserve agricultural biodiversity came from Sharon Rempel. Conservation of agricultural biodiversity and use of that biodiversity as seed is the heart of food security. The hand that holds the seed controls the food supply. (Sharon Rempel, personal quote)

Red Fife is one of the first 'variety' and 'farmer' identified food crops sold in Canada.

Visual description

Red Fife is characterized by three small awns at the top of the head of wheat, but otherwise it is awnless. The straws can be 3–5 feet tall depending on the nutrients available to the plant in the soil. A picture of the variety can be seen here.

Red Fife feeds Canada from 1860 to 1900

By the 1860s Red Fife was distributed and growing across Canada, adapting to a broad diversity of growing conditions. Renowned as a fine milling and baking wheat it set Canadian wheat standards for over forty years (1860–1900). Agriculture Canada and provincial agriculture research stations would import varieties from all over the world and try them in the Canadian growing conditions. There is no native variety of wheat in Canada.

Marquis wheat was developed from crossing Red Fife with Hard Red Calcutta. A history of Marquis and Red Fife has been posted on the Agriculture Canada website.

Red Fife, Marquis and new varieties

Farmers stopped using Red Fife and Marquis as new and improved varieties came onto the market. Land races have horizontal resistance, as opposed to hybrids that have vertical resistance. By the 1960s, the Green Revolution introduced varieties of crops that were dependent on high inputs of chemicals to produce high yields.

Plant breeders have used the genetics of old varieties to develop new varieties. Many of the bread wheats developed in Canada owe part of their genetic lineage to Red Fife wheat. The USDA Wheat Handbooks are resources listing variety names. A wheat's name could easily change when the seed was sent to another farmer.

The export market for wheat has been a factor in how wheat varieties and grading processes developed in Canada. In the 1920s, a registration system for all wheat sold in Canada was put in place. 'Merit' criteria for variety registration are based on agronomic criteria and yield. Taste has never been considered a criterion of 'merit'. Focus on yield has supported high-input, chemical-driven agriculture.

Seed politics

Red Fife is an unregistered wheat, and unregistered wheat, potato and other crops are regulated under the Variety Registration legislation of Canada. Only registered varieties are to be sold.

Wheat is graded and sold by its grade, and as a commodity, is traded globally and prices are dictated by marketing boards and regulatory agencies.

A grading system also developed that does not make use of the identification of the farmer and the variety when marketing the wheat is of little value to farmers wanting to market special products.

Today, with more interest in eating local (the 100 mile diet) and knowing the farmer, the 'variety' and 'farmer identification' have value to the consumer, so is of 'value' to the farmer.

On-farm trials

With the large diversity of heritage varieties from which to choose, farmers can find varieties that thrive in their bioregion. They can then produce high-quality grain without costly inputs. With some research into what varieties did well in the region in the era before high input agriculture, farmers can start their search to find adapted varieties to suit their customers' taste, nutritional and quality requirements.

Red Fife is not an ideal wheat for all growing conditions. Hundreds oof thousands of varieties of bread wheat are available to explore for finding one that will thrive in a particular location.

Other species of wheats, such as emmer, einkorn, and spelt, and within all these species,also vary in quality of gluten, proteins and other properties.

On-farm plant selection trials give farmers a chance to observe the crops, do selection in the field and make their own strains. Then they can brand the variety and create new and improved varieties as they choose.

A free download of a manual on how to do on-farm research is available [www.grassrootsolutions.com here].

Diversity within the variety

In 2003 and 2004 Sharon Rempel sent diverse samples of Red Fife and other heritage varieties to the Canadian Grain Commission for protein banding. This technique indicates how a variety is changing genetically each time it grows in a field. Of the three samples of Red Fife in the Canadian Gene Bank, only one sample was identical to the undated lab sample at the Grain Commission, and these accessions had no background data.

Each seed showed a distinct protein banding pattern. This preliminary research work shows that the 'terroir' of genetics and the environment immediately affect how the quality of the seed changes. The wheat looked the same in each field but the genetics were already changing. Does this mean Red Fife is a landrace? It is a heritage variety and a folk seed.

Called "folk seeds" or farmers' varieties, land races have been feeding people since wheat became domesticated about 10,000 years ago. Land races provide excellent insurance for subsistence farming populations; there is always something in the field at the end of the season.

They offer built in horizontal resistance within the plant group. Many old varieties are able to adapt to a diversity of growing conditions and are called land races due to the genetic diversity.

Without the intervention of human hands land races offer the farmer a guaranteed harvest and the ability to save seed year after year. This diversity may be expressed in the awns (or absence thereof), the two filament projections from the hull which propel the seed into the soil.

On the west coast Red Fife wheat may actually be more white in colour because of the genetic interaction with the mild environmental conditions. Red Fife grows as a spring wheat on the Prairies and can be grown both as a spring wheat and a winter wheat on the temperate west or east coasts and in Ontario.

Red Fife seems to develop a more robust red characteristic and is a 'hard' wheat when grown where it can be stressed by temperature during the growing season and has a more white delicate flavour and is more of a 'soft' wheat when grown in more temperate conditions. (this information comes from personal field growing experiences of Sharon Rempel, organic plant breeder, ECO PB)

Terroir and branding

Taste still is not considered a merit quality characteristic in Canadian variety registration.

The bread and wheat industry of Canada can mature in a way that honors the terroir of the genetics of the variety and interaction with the land where the grain is grown, just as the wine and grape industry identifies regions and types of grapes. The terrior determines the quality of the product and the price.

Farmers are encouraged to brand their Red Fife to allow the terroir of the variety to be experienced and identified. For example, 'Faith' Red Fife grown in southern Alberta will have different taste and baking qualities from Desboro Ontario. The wheat will change in baking qualities, protein components and other qualities year to year in the same field.

Red Fife revival

From 1900 to 1988, Red Fife was grown in very small quantities in plant breeders’ seed collections. Then, food activist Sharon Rempel got a pound of seed and an idea to recommercialize the heritage variety. She planted the wheat at the Keremeos Grist Mill historic site in a 'Living Museum of Wheat'.

The Heritage Wheat Project began in 1988 with seed from Agriculture Canada that was sent to 1870s historic site, the Grist Mill at Keremeos, B.C. Chief Interpreter Sharon Rempel wanted to plant the varieties of wheat that might have been milled at the Grist Mill during the 1880s.

Ms. Rempel wrote to various Agriculture Canada stations seeking information and seed. Leigh Crowle, a plant breeder from Saskatchewan, sent her one pound of each of the seven historic wheat varieties: Red Fife (1842), Ladoga (1880), Preston (1880), Stanley (1880), Hard Red Calcutta (1880), Marquis (1890), and Thatcher (1930). Dr. Crowle enclosed a handwritten card that read, "I’m retiring and these seeds are now your responsibility to care for and good luck."

Sharon was a city kid and had no idea what to do with a pound of wheat. So she called the University of British Columbia and was connected to Dr. Bert Brink, a retired agronomist. Brink taught Sharon the basics of growing out wheat in little field plots in a way that would ensure that there would be no cross pollination between varieties.

Holding back half the seed in case of crop failure, the half pound sample of Red Fife and other heritage varieties were planted in the spring of 1989. Like a magnet, the Living Museum of Wheat display attracted people who spent hours in the fields telling their friends and families stories about old wheat varieties. “I remember dad talking about Red Fife wheat…”

Grist Mill site managers Cuyler Page and Sharon Rempel had a vision: "Let’s grow these old wheats with the idea that one day Red Fife will be recommercialized in Canada."{{Sharon Rempel, personal quote and sourced in Demeter's Wheats, page 41 available from http://www.grassrootsolutions.com/books.html)

The Red Fife wheat at The Keremeos Grist Mill was 'bulked up' and 800 pounds sent to Walter Walchuck in Edmonton and 800 pounds to Marc Loisele in Saskatchewan.

The original "Keremeos" strain of wheat is the 'mother' of the current Red Fife wheat movement started by Sharon Rempel (www.grassrootsolutions.com).

The "Blais" strain of Red Fife is commonly sold throughout Canada. Farmer Blais received seed from Prairie Garden Seed and Walter Walchuk. Blais retired and sold his 'Blais' Red Fife seed to Walter who began to sell it to other farmers.

Products containing 'Red Fife' Wheat

In June 2010 Superstores in Canada began selling their 1882 Red Fife loaf. They are recognizing their family heritage as bakers and the 1880s when Mr. Weston may have been using Red Fife in his breads. This is the first use of 'variety' preserved wheat in a food product in Canada. Organic farmers Holly and Ray Peterson in Tompkins Saskatchewan grow the Red Fife used in the Weston loaf.

Grass Roots Organics Farm & Flour Mill in Desboro, Ontario, has been stone milling the Red Fife Wheat into flour since 2008 and joins dozens of millers and bakeries throughout Canada who are selling variety preserved 'Red Fife' flour and grain.

Heritage seed conservation in Canada

Red Fife wheat is a pioneer for helping people put value onto heritage varieties of food crops in Canada. Varieties will be conserved if they can be sold and have value for the farmer. The revival of Red Fife in the Canadian food scene is helping bring variety and farmer identification to food crops.

Heritage Wheat Project History

Alberta: A diversity of old wheat varieties were grown out at the University of Alberta farm in Edmonton from 1996 to 1999. University wheat technician Kurt Kutschera and Sharon Rempel hosted information Field Days to introduce people to the beautiful old wheats. Seed from the old wheat was available through Seeds of Diversity.

Interest in growing heritage wheat grew slowly in Canada. In 1999 Onoway Alberta farmer, Kerry Smith, began growing Red Fife and other historic varieties. In 2000, 2001 and 2002 the Alberta Organic Association’s Walter Walchuk and Sharon co-hosted organic heritage wheat field trials throughout Alberta.

In 1998 Jennifer Scott and David Patriquin from Nova Scotia instigated what is now known as the Maritime Heritage Wheat Project. In 2003 the Heliotrust foundation was formed to run a heritage farm that is an education centre and home for heritage wheats. It’s the first land trust in Canada designed to promote agricultural biodiversity conservation and land conservation together. They have shown scientifically that Red Fife can be valuable to shade out weeds in the field.

In 2001 Saskatchewan organic farmer Marc Loiselle began growing Red Fife and has been one of dozens of producers of Red Fife in Canada.

In 2001 Kostas Koutis (Aegilops Network, Greece) and Hans Larsson (Allkorn Network, Sweden) joined the Heritage Wheat Project and link artisan bakers and growers of heritage wheats. Kostas and Hans are agronomists who have taken seed from gene banks and brought them back into on-farm conservation projects.

At the 2002 IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Movements) Global Organic Congress in Victoria B.C. sixty five people attended the Organic and Heritage Wheat session.

In 2003 Slow Food Canada’s Vancouver Island Chapter (Mara Jernigan and Sinclair Philips, co chairs) nominated Red Fife for the Ark of Taste, Canada’s first nomination to the Ark. The Red Fife Presidia was created.

On September 14, 2003 Red Fife wheat had its first public taste testing event in the West thanks to the Slow Food movement and Wildfire Bakery. Ms. J. Sushil Saini was hired to coordinate a Red Fife Wheat Presidia to link Red Fife wheat to artisan bakeries.

In 2003 in India, inspired by the Red Fife movement, Mr. Kranti Prakash took heritage wheats to the Punjab, where the Green Revolution started in India. He continues his work with Dalit farmers in Bihar.

In 2004 at the Slow Food Terra Madre and the Salone del Gusto celebration in Italy, Red Fife was featured as Canada's only product on show.

Food folklore and culture featuring Red Fife

Phil Vernon's 'Red Fife Wheat' song is on his album Kitale Road. The song was created for Canada's first "Bread and Wheat" festival held in Victoria B.C. in 2008. (verified correct by Bread and Wheat Festival creator Sharon Rempel)

2012 onwards with heritage wheat

"The Canadian Wheat Board's future is being debated, and marketing of wheat will become more of a farmer's responsibility. 'Terroir', 'Variety Indentity' and 'Farmer Identification' will become more 'valuable' to sell all kinds of products. Branding a product and the product contents will be important.

'Red Fife' has been the pioneer brand in the field of heritage food and biodiversity conservation. Unless a heritage crop has 'value' in the marketplace it will not be conserved. If we want to have biodiversity in the fields so we will have food crops in the future, we need to bring out all the old varieties and let them grow. We need to evaluate those varieties in our farms and gardens and share the information with others. We need to correlate this information into climate change data collection and we need to focus on food crops that grow well without high inputs of chemicals. We cannot afford to keep polluting our environment. The hand that holds the seed controls the food supply." Sharon Rempel, February 12, 2012

References

HARLAN Jack R., Crops and man, American Society of Agronomy, Madison 1975

REMPEL, Sharon. Demeter's Wheats. Growing Local Food and Community with traditional wisdom and heritage wheat. 2008. Grassroot Solutions, Victoria. B.C. www.grassrootsolutions.com

SCOTT, Jennifer. New Respect for Old Wheat. Reclaiming heritage varieties requires culinary as well as agricultural expertise. Rural Delivery, October, 2004. http://www.heliotrust.ca/projects/wheat/oldwheat.html

SYMKO, Stephan. Research Branch. Agriculture Canada. 1999. From a single seed, tracing the history of Marquis wheat success story in Canada to its roots in the Ukraine. http://www4.agr.gc.ca/AAFC-AAC/display-afficher.do?id=1181224838769#contents

WITCOMBE J. R.; JOSHI A; JOSHI K. D.; STHAPIT B. R. Farmer participatory crop improvement. I. Varietal selection and breeding methods and their impact on biodiversity. Experimental Agriculture (Exp. Agric.) 1996, vol. 32, no4, pp. 445–460 (19 ref.) http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=3249915