Pulse acreage will drop

Market analysts are expecting Canadian pea and lentil acreage to drop this year. Saskatchewan Pulse Growers had market outlook panels yesterday at Pulse Days, held as part of Crop Production Week in Saskatoon. For yellow peas, the analysts noted that some new crop contracts are available at $6 a bushel, but that just doesn’t cut it compared to the returns from other cropping options. Chuck Penner of Leftfield Commodity Research went out on a limb predicting new crop pea prices will go to $7 to $8 a bushel for yellows and $8 to $9 for greens. He says weird weather would add a lot of upside potential, but he still believes pea acreage will drop. On lentils, Larry Weber of Weber Commodities is predicting a 25 per cent acreage drop. He says lentils will be gone from the non-traditional areas. There are no new crop lentils prices available, but some of the suggested prices do not sound exciting. Lentil prices should end up strong and so should peas. However, canola returns could be even better and so could wheat. Saskatchewan producers have turned to pulse crops in a major way searching for improved profitability. Now, the pendulum seems destined to swing back the other way a bit. I’m Kevin Hursh.