Battle for acres

Don’t underestimate the competition for acres that’s going to occur. That advice came yesterday from Marlene Boersch of Mercantile Consulting Venture as she presented a market outlook for canaryseed at Crop Production Week in Saskatoon. Today, Marlene is on the market outlook panel for lentils. She says growers have power in the current market environment and she advises everyone to watch the USDA report on Wednesday. If that report provides more momentum for corn prices, it will provide a lift for all commodities. Already, American corn futures are around $6 a bushel. Minneapolis spring wheat futures are flirting with $9 a bushel and some canola futures are touching $600 a tonne. Minor acreage crops like canaryseed need to be competitive with other cropping options or producers won’t grow them. Canaryseed prices have been strengthening. Marlene Boersch says 28 cents a pound is available and she says 30 cents is a reasonable target. She wasn’t aware of any new crop contract prices yet, but she notes that canaryseed prices haven’t increased as much as the other grains. Many cropping options should provide a gross return of $400 an acre in the year ahead. Acreage will gravitate to the crops that promise the best profits. I’m Kevin Hursh.