Statistics Canada’s seeding survey shows Manitoba growers will plant the same size bean crop they grew last year, but the makeup of the crop will be different.
Its March 2010 seeding intentions report forecast 65,000 acres of white and 70,000 acres of coloured beans compared to 45,000 acres of white and 90,000 acres of coloured beans last spring.
“There was a real push to get guys to grow white beans this year because there’s a real fear that there was a shortage developing of navy beans in particular,” said Brian Clancey, editor of the Stat Publishing special crops newsletter.
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Ivan Sabourin, president of Roy Legumex Inc., a Manitoba processor and exporter of beans, said there is no doubt navy bean acreage, the main class of white bean, will be up in 2010.
“The major canners did a good job of encouraging acres by having some fancy contracts this winter,” he said.
Sabourin believes black bean acres will be flat and pintos will be down slightly. The rise in navy acreage will more than offset the loss in pintos, so he expects an overall increase in Manitoba bean acres.
The intentions report did not list bean acres for Saskatchewan or Alberta. Ontario growers are forecast to seed 70,000 acres of white beans and 50,000 acres of coloured beans, up 40 percent and 11 percent from last year’s plantings respectively.
The United States Department of Agriculture is forecasting a 15 percent increase in bean acres in that country due to a combination of shrinking dry bean stocks, strong prices and lower prices for alternative crops like wheat, corn, barley and soybeans.
U.S. growers are expected to plant 1.77 million acres of beans, up from the 1.54 million acres seeded in 2009. The USDA report offered no breakdown in the classes of beans but most of the increase is happening in North Dakota, which Clancey assumed would be pinto beans.
That may be another reason for the big increase in white beans in Manitoba.
“The Manitoba growers could have just been looking over their shoulders and saying, ‘I don’t want to be steamrolled by what’s going on in North Dakota,’ ” he said.
But Sabourin said navy and pinto acres will be up south of the border.
Clancey said North American bean demand looks strong for the coming year.
“It doesn’t look like we’ll overproduce any class of bean,” he said.
Mexico has once again experienced serious production problems.
“There is a real strong feeling that they’re going to be a big factor in the pinto bean and black bean markets for the coming year,” said Clancey.
There is good demand for great northern beans stemming from North Africa and the Middle East.
Navy bean demand is static and so is supply, with a bigger 2010-11 crop making up for low carryover stocks.
Sabourin said it has been a strong shipping season for beans until recent months.
“As grain markets have drifted lower, buyers have been very patient in booking the rest of their needs for this year and any new crop needs have been very quiet.”
Buyers are looking at grain prices, comparing bean returns with those of other crops, and they feel beans are too high.
“They’re definitely trying to stay away from the market to let it drift lower before they step back in,” said Sabourin.
