In search of short season northern grain amaranth varieties: A variety trial of grain amaranth (Amaranthus spp.)
Farmer: Ronaldo Eleazar Lec Ajcot and Myriam Legault, Kristine Hammel, Phil Mount, Rob Read, Tarrah Young, Janna Van Blyderveen
Farm: Ecology and Solidarity Council, Persephone Market Garden, Flat Earth Farm, Willow Creek Permaculture Farm, Green Being Farm, Norfolk Gardens
Region: Ontario
Publish Date: April 1, 2021
Article Type: Research Project
Research Priorities: Seed Production, Selection & Breeding
The growers’ objective was to document the best short season northern grain amaranth variety for production across different farms throughout southern Ontario during the 2021 growing season.
In a Nutshell
- Golden Giant, Opopeo, and Atitlan Dorado all performed well and were overall favourites among the growers.
- The Grain Amaranth from Richters Herbs was the growers least preferred variety and didn’t perform as well as the other varieties but ranked top in flavour for growers.
- Despite this, growers are interested in adapting this variety because of its good flavour, early flowering, and wide genetics which they hope means they can work with the population to create an ideal variety for their farm.
- Growers’ enjoyed learning about grain amaranth production and its story but more work is needed to determine if production at the small and mid-sized scale is feasible with the harvesting and processing labour time.