Changing harvest plans
During this extended harvest delay, harvest plans are changing. I’ve heard from producers in some areas who are planning to leave their lentil fields sit and concentrate on their canola when the weather finally allows. The lentil crop is going to be hard to scrape off the ground and in many cases it’s going to be sprouted, wrinkled and bleached. Rather than spending precious time churning away on low-grade lentils or switching to wheat that has a relatively low value, some producers with canola ready to harvest will turn to that instead. Canola swathed well in advance of the frost should be good quality and it will combine a lot faster than lentils. There will be some lentils never combined this year and there are likely to be many producers in a crop insurance claim situation on the crop. Of course, producers will eventually turn their attention to salvaging what they can of the lentil crop, but not everybody with lentils to harvest will be turning to the crop right away. That could further affect the quantity of lentils available to the marketplace. I’m Kevin Hursh.