Corn acres are expected to jump in Manitoba as seed dealers report strong sales this winter.
Seed stocks are running short and producers who want to grow corn will need to make a decision soon.
“Our grain corn and our silage and grazing corn, all of the products have expanded on acres this year,” said Todd Walker, district sales manager Quarry Seed, based in Stonewall, Man. “(We’re) running out of some of the more popular varieties and the early maturing varieties.”
Producers are expanding acres or growing corn for the first time because prices are decent and Manitoba’s corn crop set a record in 2015: the provincial yield average was around 136 bu. per acre.
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“When guys can pull off over 120 bushels, they get pretty excited about corn,” said Wes Lewis, DeKalb account manager in Manitoba.
Corn futures in Chicago have declined this winter, dropping from $4 per bu. in October to around $3.60 per bu. in January. However, the sinking loonie is supporting corn prices north of the border. In Canadian dollars, corn futures are over $5 per bu.
“On paper, corn at $5 is a good fit,” said Marc Hutlet of Marc Hutlet Seeds in Steinbach.
Manitoba had about 250,000 grain corn acres in 2015. The acreage was lower than expected because farmers had a difficult harvest in 2014 and prices were weak.
“Regular corn growers decided to grow less corn or no corn. They figured there would be no money in it in 2015,” Hutlet said. “Lo and behold, 2015 produced one of the best crops we ever had.”
