Heritage Wheat and Red Fife Reintroduction 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.
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