Oat growers in the south Red River Valley are beginning to bring in a fat harvest.
“They’re pretty heavy,” said Emerson Milling buyer Jared Firlotte about local crops, which are generally about 110 pounds per bushel.
“Everything around here looks good.”
That’s happy news in the light of stumbling oat prices, which while defying last week’s price plummet in general crop prices, have sagged from their summer peak.
Oat prices are now hovering around the $2.50 per bu. mark, far down from the June peak of almost $3.
Read Also
One Beer Market Updates Day 3 – Lentils and beef
Day 3 of the One Beer Market Update at Ag in Motion 2025.
Last week oat prices at the Chicago Board of Trade fell only seven cents per bu. on nearby months, and ended the week three cents down. At the same time soybean and canola prices plunged, as did many other commodities.
And the post-harvest outlook is still good.
“We expect some further downward pressure for oats from harvest selling, but we look for prices to move higher longer term on declining global coarse grain supplies,” Ag Commodity Research oat analyst Randy Strychar concluded in his weekly oat commentary.
Oat prices delighted growers through May and into mid-June, rising by 50 cents per bu., but now they’re right back where they began.
The oat harvest is expected to bring in between 3.5 and 3.7 million tonnes, which is substantially larger than last year’s 3.2 million tonne crop and the five year average of just over three million tones. However, Ag Commodity Research expects oat prices to strengthen coming out of the traditional harvest slump.
Farmers sold a lot of crop forward and mills need to line up supply for their winter sales, so demand and supply are matched.
Most Manitoba oat growers appear to have a good crop to harvest, even though hot and dry weather hit the plants while they were still in rapid growth stages. Moisture reserves from the spring managed to carry them through.
Saskatchewan’s crop doesn’t look as good, Ag Commodity Research said.
“There will be regions in Saskatchewan where yields will come in lower than earlier forecasts due to the heat. The variable seeding dates in the province and excess moisture in northern regions could also impact yields,” said Strychar.
