The ghosts of crop year past and crop year present have combined to put some much-needed cash in farmers’ pockets over the holiday season.
The contribution from crop year past comes in the form of final payments for the 1997-98 crop year, which ended July 31.
The Canadian Wheat Board is sending out cheques totaling $268.9 million as the final instalment on grain it sold on farmers’ behalf during the year. Total revenue from 1997-98 sales was $4.7 billion, down from $6.1 billion the year before.
The contribution from crop year present comes from an increase in initial payments for 1998-99 .
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
Effective Dec. 22, the initial payments were raised by $15 a tonne for all grades of wheat, durum and feed barley, while the payment for designated barley was increased by $10 a tonne.
That puts the initial payment for No. 1 CW red spring wheat at $145 a tonne, for No. 1 CW amber durum at $150, for No. 1 CW feed barley at $100, for special select CW two-row barley at $148 and for special select CW six-row at $132.
Adjustment payments covering grain delivered to CWB pool accounts between Aug. 1 and Dec. 21 will be mailed to farmers the week of Jan. 4. No estimate was available of how much in total will be sent.
The infusion of money into the struggling farm economy was welcomed by Don Dewar, president of Keystone Agricultural Producers.
“It’s good news any time there’s some cash coming out, this year in particular,” he said.
However he added some farmers may be disappointed the 1998-99 initial payment weren’t increased even more, given the large spread between the initials and the pool return outlook published by the board at the end of November.
For example, the initial payment on No. 1 CW 13.5 percent protein wheat is $166, while the midpoint of the PRO is $216 a tonne (less freight and handling at local elevators).
“From where we sit it’s nice to think there should be more, but they have the numbers,” he said. “I hope that as they get more sold a couple of months down the road, we can do it again.”
CWB spokesperson Deanna Allen said while the spreads are wide on some classes and grades of wheat, it’s much narrower on others, like some of the soft white spring wheats.
“To increase them beyond what we’ve done at this point of the crop year, given what we’re selling … would be very risky,” she said.
The board can make different price recommendations for different classes, but the markets were judged too volatile to do so now.
