Winnipeg, April 27 (CNS Canada) – After growing the largest mustard crop in more than a decade in 2016, the supply/demand fundamentals should see fewer Canadian mustard acres in 2017.
And with more cropland moving into canola, mustard acreage increases may be limited in future years when supplies are tight again.
The 2016 Canadian mustard crop was the largest in 12 years at 234,000 tonnes. Agriculture Canada predicts carryout for 2016-17 at 85,000 tonnes, which would be well above the 5,000 tonnes carried forward the previous year.
The larger supplies lowered prices, causing farmers to reduce their intended seeded area to 390,000 acres in 2017, down from 525,000 acres the previous year, according to Statistics Canada data.
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As the harvest in southern Alberta presses on, a broker said that is one of the factors pulling feed prices lower in the region. Darcy Haley, vice-president of Ag Value Brokers in Lethbridge, added that lower cattle numbers in feedlots, plentiful amounts of grass for cattle to graze and a lacklustre export market also weighed on feed prices.
Mustard is driven by contracted prices, and those bids, especially for yellow mustard, were not very attractive compared to where they were a year ago, said Kevin Hursh, executive director of the Saskatchewan Mustard Development Commission.
He said the demand is relatively steady, but prices change depending on the supplies available.
Contract prices for brown mustard have improved slightly in recent weeks, rising from 32 cents per pound to 34 cents, said Hursh, as companies realized that they “needed to up their game a little bit,” if they wanted to ensure enough acres were seeded.
While mustard area is expected to be down on the year, canola is set to see record plantings in Western Canada, according to the StatsCan data.
“The unfortunate thing, from mustard’s point of view, is that once you seed canola, you’re out of the mustard business on that land for four to five years,” said Hursh.
Canola and mustard are closely related plants. While canola has many weed control options, the same is not true for mustard. Canola volunteers in a mustard crop can quickly lead to downgrades, said Hursh.
In addition to the weed control advantages of canola, newer canola varieties that can be straight combined, rather than swathed. This might also dissuade future mustard acres, as former mustard growers can now conceivably switch to canola without the need to invest in a swather, said Hursh.
“There’s no doubt that mustard is being squeezed into smaller and smaller areas,” said Walter Dyck, a mustard buyer with Olds Products in Alberta.
With more area going into canola, Dyck said it will get harder for the mustard industry to respond when more acres are needed.
While most yellow mustard was contracted for 35 cents per pound this year in Western Canada, Dyck noted that his company had contracted at 42 cents per pound in order to retain growers. He added that the farmers still growing mustard are generally able to keep weeds to a minimum through good growing practices, but some are still pushed out due to weed issues or low prices.
