The rain over the past week was not on the wish list for most farmers. As crops ripen, rain is going to become less and less welcome. Much of the Prairie grain belt has seen record high precipitation this growing season. The weather problems in Russia and Ukraine are the complete opposite of what we’re facing. Last Friday, I received an email from Al Hingston, a livestock consultant from Saskatchewan who is living in Ukraine. He reports that they’ve had temperatures in the high 30s and low 40s for several weeks now, occasionally accompanied by high winds. The corn fields have been blasted and look almost like dead ripe barley – pale yellow white. The sunflowers have finished flowering and the heads are hanging. Hingston wonders how the seeds will fill without rain. He reports that the winter crops have come off not bad, but he says the summer crops are going to take a terrible hit, at least in his Oblast. Reports indicate the hot, dry conditions there are widespread. Meanwhile, the problems of both Western Canada and the former Soviet Union pale in comparison to what people in Pakistan are facing. I’m Kevin Hursh.
DynAgra, an independent Western Canada-based Company, is dedicated to providing growers with the tools to manage the risk and maximize the profitability of their farm business through the continued innovation of agricultural products and services. We are committed to developing and providing growers with the latest in precision agronomics, variable rate technology, soil fertility, crop protection, fertilizers, custom application and financial solutions.
Tags: ag products, ag services, agricultural products, agricultural services, corn fields, crop protection, custom application, Dynagra, fertilizers, financial solutions, Pakistan, Prairie grain belt, precision ag, precision agronomics, record high precipitation, Russia, Saskatchewan, soil fertility, Soviet Union, sunflowers, Ukraine, Variable Rate Technology, western canada, winter crops
Last week, the price of wheat made national headlines. Drought in the Former Soviet Union has been pushing wheat prices higher. When Russia announced a temporary ban on wheat exports, the market spiked last Thursday and that’s when much of the media attention was generated. Some of the media reports felt it necessary to delve into what this means for consumers and the poor people of the world. One national television report said the price of a loaf of bread could increase by 30 cents. That’s extremely inaccurate. The Canadian Wheat Board has released some statistics to set the record straight. First of all, the value of wheat accounts for less than 10 per cent of the cost of a loaf of bread. A bushel of wheat makes about 67 standard loaves. At a wheat price of $4.50 a bushel, there is about 7 cents worth of wheat in a loaf of bread. Wheat futures on Thursday spiked to over $8 a bushel. At that price, there’s still only 12 cents worth of wheat in a loaf of bread. That five cent increase is a far cry from the 30 cents reported. It should also be noted that wheat fell back sharply on Friday and the price was little changed yesterday. I’m Kevin Hursh.
DynAgra, an independent Western Canada-based Company, is dedicated to providing growers with the tools to manage the risk and maximize the profitability of their farm business through the continued innovation of agricultural products and services. We are committed to developing and providing growers with the latest in precision agronomics, variable rate technology, soil fertility, crop protection, fertilizers, custom application and financial solutions.
Tags: ag products, ag services, agricultural products, agricultural services, Canadian Wheat Board, crop protection, custom application, drought, Dynagra, fertilizers, financial solutions, Former Soviet Union, precision ag, precision agronomics, Russia, soil fertility, Variable Rate Technology, whear prices, wheat, wheat exports
Oats is an interesting commodity that has seen a number of market changes in recent years. According to a recent report from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Canada is the world’s third largest oat producer and the world’s number one oat exporter. About 95 per cent of our oat exports are to the U.S. market. Starting in 1995, the European Union provided Finland and Sweden with oat export subsidies. When those export subsidies ended in 2006, Finnish and Swedish oat exports to the U.S. were curtailed and Canada captured that business. Within Canada, oat production has become concentrated in the Prairie region, particularly Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The two provinces have market access and transportation advantages to the main U.S. market of Minneapolis. Oats continue to have a prominent place in the milling market for human food uses, but many U.S. horse markets have replaced oats with pelleted corn rations. The Ag Canada analysis says oats will have a difficult time recapturing the horse market. The medium term forecast calls for a continued decline in North American oat acres as producers gravitate to more profitable cropping options. I’m Kevin Hursh.
DynAgra, an independent Western Canada-based Company, is dedicated to providing growers with the tools to manage the risk and maximize the profitability of their farm business through the continued innovation of agricultural products and services. We are committed to developing and providing growers with the latest in precision agronomics, variable rate technology, soil fertility, crop protection, fertilizers, custom application and financial solutions.
Tags: Ag Canada, ag products, ag services, agricultural products, agricultural services, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, crop protection, custom application, Dynagra, European Union, fertilizers, financial solutions, oat exports, oats, Prairie region, precision ag, precision agronomics, soil fertility, Variable Rate Technology
Saskatchewan crops are later than normal and frost remains a huge threat. However, the earliest seeded crops – crops that were in the ground before the end of April - aren’t very far away from harvest. Over the past couple weeks there has been a marked change in their maturity. I haven’t seen any combines rolling on field peas, but I’ve seen quite a few fields that should be only a week or two away. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are peas being harvested somewhere. The same goes for winter cereals. And there are some marvelous winter wheat crops around. There are also some early seeded canola fields that look absolutely excellent and a few of those are starting to change colour. I have heard of some canola being swathed. I have also heard reports of lentils that will soon be desiccated. However, the lentils I’ve seen in my travels are mostly still very green with only an occasional patch that’s starting to ripen. For the vast maturity of producers in Saskatchewan, any harvest activity is still weeks away, but on early crops in the southern grain belt, harvest is beginning. I’m Kevin Hursh.
DynAgra, an independent Western Canada-based Company, is dedicated to providing growers with the tools to manage the risk and maximize the profitability of their farm business through the continued innovation of agricultural products and services. We are committed to developing and providing growers with the latest in precision agronomics, variable rate technology, soil fertility, crop protection, fertilizers, custom application and financial solutions.
Tags: ag products, ag services, agricultural products, agriculutral services, Canola, crop protection, custom application, Dynagra, fertilizers, financial solutions, harvest, lentils, peas, precision ag, precision agronomics, Saskatchewan, soil fertility, southern grain belt, Variable Rate Technology, winter cereals, winter wheat
How many acres of lentils will we harvest in Western Canada this year? What will the total production be? Looking at Canada and the world, what are lentil prices likely to do? The latest Pulse Market Report from Saskatchewan Pulse Growers addresses those questions, but there’s another new report most growers won’t have seen that does a really good job of analyzing the lentil market. That report is from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and while government documents are often long on words and short on conclusions, this one impressed me. It pegs our harvested area at 2.8 million acres. That’s up from last year’s 2.3 million acres, but it’s a lot lower than the intended acreage due the moisture problems this spring. The Ag Canada analysis assumes lower lentil yields this year, so total production is expected to decline on large green lentils while increasing modestly on red lentils. Most interesting is that the report includes price projections. The average producer price in the last crop year for the top grade of large green lentils is pegged at 34 cents a pound. The price forecast for this new crop year is 29 cents. On small green lentils, the price last year averaged 28 cents a pound. A price of 25 cents is expected this year. The red lentil price last year averaged 30 cents. The forecast price for this crop year is 26 cents. I’m Kevin Hursh.
DynAgra, an independent Western Canada-based Company, is dedicated to providing growers with the tools to manage the risk and maximize the profitability of their farm business through the continued innovation of agricultural products and services. We are committed to developing and providing growers with the latest in precision agronomics, variable rate technology, soil fertility, crop protection, fertilizers, custom application and financial solutions.
Tags: Ag Canada, ag products, ag services, agricultural products, agricultural services, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, crop protection, custom app, custom application, Dynagra, fertilizers, financial solutions, green lentils, harvest, lentil market, lentil prices, lentils, precision ag, precision agronomics, Pulse Market Report, red lentils, Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, soil fertility, Variable Rate Technology, western canada
What should happen with cash rents on land that couldn’t be seeded this spring? With millions of acres unseeded, the cash rent situation is a hot topic in some communities. Most cash rental agreements stipulate a payment per cultivated acre without any provision for a year when the land couldn’t be seeded. Legally, under most agreements, the rent is to be paid no matter what. A year like this one shows the need to have an agreement that takes all sorts of different scenarios into account. Beyond the legal status, some will argue that landlords have a moral imperative to help out renters. There will no doubt be instances where landlords do just that, especially if the renter has been farming the land for a long time or if the renter is a relative. In some cases, the landlord may provide a break this year in exchange for enhanced benefits in subsequent years. On unseeded land, the only income is the Unseeded Acreage Payment under crop insurance and the $30 in extra assistance announced by government. It doesn’t amount to much compared to the costs for weed control and getting land in shape to seed next year, let alone a cash rent payment. However, producers with a lot of unseeded land should qualify for varying amounts under the AgriStability program, so their situation may not end up as dire as it appears. I welcome your comments on this issue or any other. I’m Kevin Hursh.
DynAgra, an independent Western Canada-based Company, is dedicated to providing growers with the tools to manage the risk and maximize the profitability of their farm business through the continued innovation of agricultural products and services. We are committed to developing and providing growers with the latest in precision agronomics, variable rate technology, soil fertility, crop protection, fertilizers, custom application and financial solutions.
Tags: acres unseeded, ag products, ag services, agricultural products, agricultural services, AgriStability program, cash rental agreements, cash rents, crop protection, custom application, Dynagra, fertilizers, financial solutions, precision ag, precision agronomics, soil fertility, Unseeded Acreage Payment, unseeded land, Variable Rate Technology
It’s a great year for winter cereals, not such a great year for canola, flax and canaryseed. The crop condition ratings in this week’s crop report from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture show that winter wheat and fall rye and looking great. Winter wheat is rated as 33 per cent excellent and 50 per cent good. Only 3 per cent is poor. By contrast, 23 per cent of the canola in the province is rated as fair, 13 per cent is rated as poor and 3 per cent is very poor. Canola is the crop with the lowest ratings, but it’s followed closely by flax, canaryseed and barley. The crop report also provides ratings for each region of the province. The northwestern region of the grain belt has the best crops overall. Canola is particularly strong in the northwest. The poorest crop ratings are in the northeastern grain belt. In that region, only one per cent of the canola is rated as excellent, 31 per cent is good, 33 per cent is fair, 29 per cent is poor and six per cent is rated as very poor. The best lentil crops are in West Central Saskatchewan, where 30 per cent of the crop is rated as excellent and 54 per cent is rated as good. Unfortunately, even most of the crops that are looking good are still one to two weeks behind normal in development. I’m Kevin Hursh.
DynAgra, an independent Western Canada-based Company, is dedicated to providing growers with the tools to manage the risk and maximize the profitability of their farm business through the continued innovation of agricultural products and services. We are committed to developing and providing growers with the latest in precision agronomics, variable rate technology, soil fertility, crop protection, fertilizers, custom application and financial solutions.
Tags: ag products, ag services, agricultural products, agricultural services, Canaryseed, Canola, crop condition ratings, crop protection, custom application, Dynagra, fertilizers, financial solutions, flax, lentils, precision ag, precision agronomics, Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, soil fertility, Variable Rate Technology, winter cereals
Most years, there’s a wide variation in Saskatchewan fields. Seldom is it as extreme as this year. In many cases, the millions of acres of unseeded and flooded land is a mess. It was too wet for good weed control early in the season. It’s common to see waist-high weeds that are drying down from a herbicide application with the telltale ruts from the sprayer tires filled with water. In some cases, as the land dries, producers are resorting to tillage to break down the weed residue and fill in the ruts. While some of the crops in the wet zones are stunted and spindly, there are also some good crops, although many of them are two or three weeks late. On the western side of the province where the flooding wasn’t as serious, there are some absolutely excellent crops. If hail and frost stay away, there will be producers who harvest their biggest crop ever. Contrast that with producers who didn’t get a single acre seeded and you get an idea of the tremendous range in fortunes across the province. I’m Kevin Hursh.
DynAgra, an independent Western Canada-based Company, is dedicated to providing growers with the tools to manage the risk and maximize the profitability of their farm business through the continued innovation of agricultural products and services. We are committed to developing and providing growers with the latest in precision agronomics, variable rate technology, soil fertility, crop protection, fertilizers, custom application and financial solutions.
Tags: ag products, ag services, agricultural products, agricultural services, crop protection, crops, custom application, Dynagra, Fertilizer, finance solutions, herbicide, herbicide application, precision ag, precision agronomics, Saskatchewan, soil fertility, tillage, Variable Rate Technology, VRT, weed control, weed residue, weeds
A couple weeks ago, there was hope for a quick resolution to Mexican import restrictions on Canadian canaryseed. Unfortunately, there has been limited progress in resolving the problem. Canaryseed exporters in this province say that about half of the canaryseed railcars stopped at the Mexican border have been allowed to enter, but the status of the product now in Mexico remains unclear. A couple weeks ago, there seemed to be a willingness at the ministerial level in Mexico to forge a new agreement on weed seed levels in Canadian canaryseed, particularly in regard to wild buckwheat. That willingness has not been apparent within the Mexican bureaucracy. Exporters close to the situation say there have been communication breakdowns between Mexican and Canadian officials and there’s no estimating when exports will resume. In the meantime, canaryseed is only sporadically being purchased from farmers and prices are soft. Mexico is usually the top customer for our canaryseed and it won’t be a normal market until they’re back in. I’m Kevin Hursh.
DynAgra, an independent Western Canada-based Company, is dedicated to providing growers with the tools to manage the risk and maximize the profitability of their farm business through the continued innovation of agricultural products and services. We are committed to developing and providing growers with the latest in precision agronomics, variable rate technology, soil fertility, crop protection, fertilizers, custom application and financial solutions.
Tags: ag products, ag services, agricultural products, agricultural services, Canadian canaryseed, crop protection, custom application, Dynagra, Fertilizer, fertilizers, financial solutions, Mexico, precision ag, precision agronomics, soil fertility, Variable Rate Technology, VRT, wild buckwheat
