SASKATOON – Ron McKinnon plans to grow early-maturing sunflowers this year.
In the past, the Abernethy, Sask. farmer has tried his hand, without much success, at pinto beans and chick peas in a plot set aside to test new crops.
Like most farmers these days, McKinnon is experimenting with alternative crops, trying to escape dependence on Saskatchewan’s traditional wheat crop. He is looking for high-value crops that will flourish on his farm east of Regina.
The search has become even more important since the federal government announced it is eliminating the grain export subsidy by July 31.
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
“It’ll be an evolution,” said McKinnon, predicting farmers will stray from the traditional wheat and barley crops over the next few years.
“They will try and find high-value products so the freight doesn’t eat up the profit.”
He plans to increase his lentil and pea acres, grow more canola and try a few acres of linola.
It will take time before each farmer finds a special crop niche, said Blair Roth, Alberta Wheat Pool’s special crops specialist. For some, it could be mustard rather than canola, or spices not peas that bump grain from the rotation.
Several uncertainties
In this period of uncertainty, the loss of the federal Crow Benefit subsidy is just one of the unknowns.
Farmers also must guess which branch lines or elevators will survive.
With all the changes, it will be a few years before farmers have a clear picture of their future options, said Roth.
“It’s pretty foggy out there.”
Matt Machielse of Edmonton, a special commodities analyst with Alberta Agriculture, predicts the end of the Crow will be positive for farmers who grow special crops.
The change will encourage farmers to maintain or increase acres planted to special crops. That increase will be the catalyst for more prairie processing plants, he said.
“It will add value-added in years to come,” said Machielse.
Martin Chidwick of Woodstone Foods Corporation isn’t as pessimistic as some about a future without the Crow.
“There’s a lot of hungry, honest, hard-working people who will bounce back after the initial shock,” said Chidwick, of Winnipeg.
“There may be a pregnant pause or hiccup while they reposition themselves.”
Woodstone Foods separates yellow peas into three products: protein, fibre and starch. Like their company, many producers will want to add value to their crop as a way of defraying the freight bill.
Numbers will stabilize
In the next few years, Chidwick anticipates an increase in processing plants across the Prairies. Over time, the number of plants will stabilize as farmers and companies find their niche.
Despite predictions of sharply increased production, one trader predicts that will not necessarily mean lower prices.
Four years ago, market experts thought prices had peaked, said Gerald Donkersgoed, a trader with Finora Canada Ltd. of Vancouver. They no longer believe that.
“We’d underestimated the size of the market.”
Now, the experts agree that most of that growing market will be abroad, where higher prices justify the higher domestic freight costs.
The one special crop with a strong domestic market future may be peas. It is estimated that if Sask-atchewan hog producers fed locally grown peas rather than imported American soybean, it would create a market for 700,000 new acres of pea production.
“There should be a high demand for feed peas,” said Donkersgoed. “We ship to Europe. Why not use them domestically if they’re exported for hog feed?”
