Comeback predicted | The industry has shrunk in recent decades, but new demand is developing
Custom harvesting may make a comeback as prairie farms become bigger and need more machinery to get off the crop.
Lee Petersen, president of the Association of Canadian Custom Harvesters, said there are not as many custom harvesters in Western Canada as there were 20 years ago, but the demand is high.
In particular, larger farms need extra help to harvest the crop, he added.
“As farms get larger, we’re seeing a lot of larger farms that have, you know, two, three, whatever, some machines of their own, but they don’t have enough to do their whole crop so they’ll bring in a custom harvester to do a portion of it,” he said.
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Troy Sanderson, who used to custom harvest but sold out in 2011, agreed that the number is low but has hope for the future.
“I mean, it’s dwindled way down that I don’t think it can get any lower than it is right now, as far as the amount of people doing it,” he said.
“Custom harvesting, I think, will come back.”
Petersen said farmers are starting to help neighbours out on a small scale.
“You see a lot of guys … that’ll have their own farm, do their own farm and then go, you know, go work for some neighbours or go a little ways away and do some custom work,” he said.
“They’re utilizing their machinery that much better.”
Manpower is the main reason Petersen sees farmers looking to custom harvesting.
“The biggest reason that farmers tell me is manpower because, you know, to find good qualified help to help on your own farm, you know, for say just a month, is hard to find,” said Petersen.
A $500,000 new combine may not work into a farmer’s budget.
Custom harvesting fees vary from job to job, but most often a custom job goes by a per acre rate and sometimes a per hour rate.
Some farmers may think the cost will be too high, but Petersen said many are looking at it as an expense that pays off.
“The real growth is in the guys looking at it long term, that are saying, you know, ‘I can afford, you know, to pay somebody every year to do X amount of acres,’ ” he said.
Darcy Thompson, a custom combiner from Alberta, has seen farmers looking at the cost.
“I’m finding now more and more farmers are really penciling in the cost, and quite often it’s cheaper to hire in a … custom operator than to add to their existing fleet,” he said.
Custom harvesters can be a big help for farmers who are having trouble, especially in years such as this one.
The late start to harvest has some farmers scrambling, and Petersen said he can help someone out in a bind. However, he recommended booking a custom harvester early.
“If somebody is thinking of looking at hiring a custom harvester or wanting to hire a custom harvester, plan ahead a little bit,” he said.
“Most of my jobs, I know where I’m going to be four or five months before hand.”
