Grain producers now have their individual specifics for the 2010 Saskatchewan Crop Insurance program. This information is one of the factors to be considered when making spring seeding decisions, especially in regions where moisture is a concern. This year’s program is much kinder to some crops than others. Everyone’s numbers will be different, but here are a couple examples from my crop insurance contract. Even though I’m not in a traditional canola growing region, my crop insurance guarantee for canola grown on stubble is approximately $150 an acre. This is nearly $40 an acre higher than my guarantee for oriental mustard, another oilseed cropping option. For field peas, my guarantee is less than $100 an acre. For both lentils and kabuli chickpeas, two other pulse crops, the guarantee is well over $200 an acre. Hopefully, there will be substantial precipitation and everyone will grow a crop that yields well above their crop insurance guarantees. But if a production problem does materialize, there are some obvious winners and losers when you look at crop insurance coverage. I’m Kevin Hursh.
Tags: 2010 Saskatchewan Crop Insurance, Canola, field peas, Grain producers, kabuli chickpeas, lentils, oilseed, oriental mustard
The Flax Council of Canada is reporting that it has found extremely low levels of Triffid, the unregistered GM flax, in more breeder seed samples. Triffid has now been discovered in the flax varieties CDC Bethune, CDC Sorrel and CDC Sanctuary. As a result, there is now a shift in the issue of producers using farm-saved seed. The Flax Council says farm-saved seed will be allowed, but under rigorous sampling and testing procedures. Those protocols should be announced this week and it’ll be interesting to see the requirements. It appears that if you test enough samples and sub-samples and if the tests are sensitive enough, Triffid contamination is widespread. In many of these tests, Triffid is only present at one or two seeds per million. That’s way below European requirements, but it isn’t zero. It will be very difficult if not impossible to completely eliminate Triffid from the seed supply. For that reason, liability is going to be an issue for anyone selling flax seed. Expect to be presented with a liability waiver if you’re buying flax seed this spring. I’m Kevin Hursh.
Tags: CDC Bethune, CDC Sanctuary, CDC Sorrel, Flax Council of Canada, GM flax, liability waiver, Triffid
Many grain producers have been able to build up good AgriStability reference margins. With that kind of protection in place, there may be a temptation to cut back on crop insurance coverage and save money on premiums. There are a number of good reasons to resist this temptation. The two programs are designed to work together so that producers are not disadvantaged by participating in both. This includes automatic adjustments to crop insurance premiums if necessary. On the other hand, if you cut back coverage under crop insurance, payments you would have received due to a very poor crop are imputed for AgriStability. In other words, your AgriStability payment may be cut back based on what you could have received under crop insurance. It’s also important to note that crop insurance payments add to your AgriStability margins for subsequent years. As well, you can receive crop insurance for the failure of one type of crop, even though your other crops may not be in a claim position. Cash flow is another consideration. Crop Insurance money flows a lot faster than AgriStability payments. At $5 to $20 an acre, crop insurance premiums add up, but cutting coverage could be even more costly than you think. I’m Kevin Hursh.
Tags: AgriStability, Crop insurance
Glyphosate resistance has been confirmed in kochia weeds in western Kansas. A report posted by Southwest Farm Press says the resistant kochia populations have undergone both greenhouse and field testing by Kansas State University and Monsanto. Kochia is a huge problem in much of the brown and dark brown soil zone of Western Canada. Scientists say that as much as 90 per cent of our kochia population has become resistant to Group 2 herbicides. While there are no reports of glyphosate resistance in Canada, you have to wonder if that problem is coming based on the report from Kansas. Glyphosate has multiple uses – preemergent weed burn-off, Roundup Ready canola, chem-fallow, pre-harvest and post-harvest. It’s a bit scary to think of what we’ll need to do if we ever lose the utility of glyphosate – a product that has become increasingly affordable. It seems clear that there are going to be increasing problems with many types of herbicide resistance. Rotating herbicide groups and using products with multiple modes of action will be increasingly important strategies. I’m Kevin Hursh.
Tags: glyphosate, herbicide, kochia, Monsanto, post-harvest, pre-harvest, Roundup Ready Canola, Southwest Farm Press
It’s been a dry winter on the Prairies. In fact, according to the precipitation maps published by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, it’s been record dry in some regions –in particular northeastern Alberta and northwestern Saskatchewan. Since November 1, no part of the Prairies shows up at above normal precipitation. Instead, precipitation has been 60 to 80 per cent of normal, 40 to 60 per cent of normal, or under 40 per cent. This is a lot bigger issue in the west than the east. The soil moisture map published by soil scientist Les Henry in Grainnews shows that anything east of a line from about North Battleford to Moose Jaw went into the winter in good shape. West of that line, including almost all of Alberta has very little soil moisture reserve. March and April can see substantial precipitation. While big storms can be a nuisance, especially for calving season, moisture would certainly be welcome on the western side of the Prairie region. I’m Kevin Hursh.
Tags: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Grainnews, moisture, Praries
After an announcement last week that Yara and Terra have agreed on the sale of Terra to Yara. CF has now come back with the following take over option which tops the previous bid from Yara:
CF Industries Holdings Inc. said March 2 that it has offered to acquire Terra Industries Inc. for $37.15 in cash and 0.0953 of a share of CF Industries common stock for each Terra share. The offer has a total value of $47.40 per share based on CF Industries closing price on Monday, March 1, 2010. CF Industries has received $4.05 billion of financing commitments and the offer is not subject to financing. Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc. has committed $2.8 billion and The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. has committed $1.25 billion. CF Industries also announced that it intends to commence an exchange offer for Terra shares that will be scheduled to expire on April 2, 2010.
Agrium is still continuing to pursue it’s take over of CF. The only thing anyone know for sure is that the fertilizer world is about to get a lot smaller.
Continue to voice your concerns on fertilizer manufacture consolidation to your local MLA.
Tags: Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, CF, consolidation, Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Terra, Yara
Producers are always interested in farm input costs, but it’s tough to get broad-based information. One good source is the website for Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development. They’ve long been monitoring a wide variety of farm input costs – everything from the price of tractors to the price of barbed wire. The input prices are collected by Wild Rose Agricultural Producers and put together by the Statistics and Data Development Unit of Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development. The stats for January were recently released. They show a gradual rise in prices for urea fertilizer since last November. Phosphate prices, on the other hand were quite flat through January. Roundup Weathermax herbicide fell sharply between December and January. Certified barley and wheat seed have been falling in price. However, herbicide tolerant canola seed has been rising sharply in price. There are charts and graphs that go back for a number of years. Just check out the Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development website. I’m Kevin Hursh.
Tags: Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, Roundup Weathermax, Statistics and Data Development Unit of Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, Wild Rose Agricultural Producers
Consolidation seems to be the reality of doing business today in agriculture. As companies become larger and there are less competitors surviving. Competing as an independent is a struggle and provides its own set of challenges.
Recently at the CAAR convention Dynagra was awarded the ag-retailer of the year award. Based in Beiseker Alberta, Dynagra is a family owned business that prides itself on independence and innovation.
Listen to an interview with Remi Schmaltz of DynAgra and Real Agriculture!
RealAgriculture.com would like to congratulate DynAgra on this award.
Tags: ag-retailer of the year, CAAR convention, consolidation, Dynagra, RealAgriculture.com
Many Saskatchewan grain farmers have had some good years and they’ve built up their AgriStability reference margins. With different crops and much higher costs, most Ontario grain farmers say they haven’t built up that same protection. Grain and oilseed farmers in Ontario lobbied hard for a Risk Management Program (RMP) that was implemented within that province back in 2007. However, it is supported by only the Ontario government. The feds haven’t come to the table. RMP support prices are established for each eligible crop based on the cost of production. Producers pay premiums depending upon what percentage of the support price they want to insure. Here on the Prairies, most producers will tell you that a program covering the cost of production would be wonderful. But there’s little expectation that it will ever come to pass. Expectations are different in Ontario. Maybe it’s the influence of having such a large supply managed dairy sector where prices are based on a cost of production formula. Maybe, it’s because producers in neighbouring Quebec have long had lucrative farm programs. And maybe it’s because Ontario farmers feel that they have some political power. Ontario farm votes are up for grabs and can be enough to swing entire ridings. The squeaky wheel gets the grease and Ontario farmers are squeaking loudly. I’m Kevin Hursh.
Tags: AgriStability, Risk Management Program
I enjoy the Pulse Market Report regularly prepared and distributed by Saskatchewan Pulse Growers. Since it’s available by email and at saskpulse.com, they avoid the time lag of some other market reports. The most recent report, sent out yesterday, has three analysts commenting on the lentil market. Although still high from a historical perspective, lentil prices have dropped quite dramatically in recent weeks. An estimated 25 per cent of the lentil crop is yet to be marketed. It makes you wonder what some producers were waiting for. Prices were sitting in the 38 cent a pound range for quite some time, but that obviously wasn’t enough to pry all the stocks out of producers’ hands. Most analysts are suggesting that prices will continue slipping as they move downwards towards new crop values. A record seeded acreage of Canadian lentils is predicted. Many estimates are calling for more than 3 million acres. Those projections are one of the main reasons for softer prices. Producers often blame Statistics Canada, but in this case it’s private estimates that have moved the market. The analysts think there will be a bigger increase in red lentil acreage than in greens and therefore red lentil prices may be the softer of the two in the year ahead. I’m Kevin Hursh.
Tags: lentil, Pulse Market Report, saskpulse.com, Statistics Canada
