Barley growers weren’t the only ones deciding on marketing options this spring. Green lentil growers had their own vote and they, too, opted for the less interventionist approach.
Saskatchewan Pulse Growers polled farmers and members of the trade about a report prepared by Marlene Boersch, managing partner with Mercantile Consulting Venture Inc., entitled Market Risk Management Tools for Green Lentils.
In the report, Boersch outlined ways to increase profitability and reduce risks in growing large green lentils.
Suggestions ranged from a marketing club that would gather better intelligence for growers to a marketing board that would pool lentils and set floor prices at which it would sell to exporters and processors.
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The marketing board option has attracted heavy criticism and has been eliminated from the mix by the board of Saskatchewan Pulse Growers.
Association executive director Garth Patterson said there was no appetite for such a strategy in its poll of 140 growers and in meetings it held with 22 representatives of the green lentil trade.
“There was very strong consensus from the trade and growers that they did not want to see any level of market intervention,” he said.
The majority of those surveyed wanted either the status quo or the least interventionist of Boersch’s proposed risk management tools.
Patterson said the board decided that with the help of the trade it will provide growers with better market intelligence, which should prevent growers from oversupplying the market and from selling when they should be holding. However, the proposed service will not provide buy or sell recommendations.
“We certainly don’t see ourselves actually making strong recommendations. It’s more pulling information together,” he said.
The association will provide a repository of timely, unbiased and consistent information and analysis. Much of that information is already available to those who know where to find it.
“Not everyone has the time to spend hours on the internet chasing it down,” said Patterson.
The details of the program are expected to be worked out during the next few months. Patterson expects it to be launched in October.
