Some news bites from days two and three of Crop Production Week:
1. David Nobbs, general manager of Canpulse Foods, says lentil plantings will have to fall from 2.5 million to two million acres in 2013 before prices respond. He is confident prices won’t fall below 18 cents per pound due to support from the feed industry.
2. Quinton Stewart, pulse crop trader with Viterra, says there are new crop prices of $7.50 to $7.60 for yellow peas and $10 for greens. He is forecasting 3.5 to 3.7 million acres of peas, with 13 to 15 percent of those acres planted to green peas. That’s up from 3.25 million acres of peas in 2012.
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3. Agrisoma said it will be coming out with its 2013 carinata contracts in February. The company is looking for a fivefold to sevenfold increase in the 6,700 acres it contracted in 2012.
4. A European mustard buyer urged the Canadian industry to stay away from field testing any genetically modified lines of the crop because if one GM seed makes its way into a shipment, Canada will lose a market that purchases about one-third of the Canadian crop annually.
5. Michael Kemperdick, managing director of German mustard buyer Schluter Maack, says EU countries are getting out of mustard production. Some of the slack is being picked up by the Ukraine but there should be good opportunities for Canadian exports in the coming years.
6. Walter Dyck, general manager of the seed division of Olds Products Company, a processor that makes mustard condiments for customers in Canada and the U.S., says there needs to be an increase in North American mustard production due to a poor 2012 crop. The industry needs a minimum of 350,000 acres. As a result, contract prices will be rising in 2013.
Look for full stories on these Crop Production Week topics and more in upcoming issues of The Western Producer.
