Wheat growers can pick up extra cash if they hold on to some high quality wheat for delivery at the end of this crop year.
The Canadian Wheat Board has re-introduced its wheat storage program (WSP) for 2009-10, with an 80-tonne sign-up deadline Oct. 31.
The program is designed to ensure the board has enough quality high protein wheat to meet customer demand late in the marketing year in the event the next crop is low quality.
“We certainly hope to encourage farmers to participate in it,” said CWB spokesperson Maureen Fitzhenry.
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New programs take time to gain acceptance, she said, and this is no exception.
“It’s been a struggle,” she said. “It takes time to get on the radar screen and for farmers to realize how they can work it with their whole cash flow and crop management system.”
The program may not appeal to farmers whose priority is cash flow, but anyone who can wait can take advantage of incentives, she said.
For wheat with 15 percent protein, the program provides a $15 a tonne premium at signup, as well as storage payments of $1 per tonne per month until the cash ticket date or the expiration of the delivery period.
None of the contracted wheat will be called for delivery before November 2010. That works out to a total premium of $27 a tonne.
For wheat with protein between 14.5 and 14.9 percent, the premium will be $10 a tonne, for a total extra payment of $22 a tonne.
Farmers can choose payment based on either the 2009-10 or 2010-11 crop year. There is no administration fee and the program includes 100 percent acceptance.
The program, which was introduced in 2003-04, will be available to all farmers in the Prairies. Originally it was offered only in areas where the board knew that there was high quality wheat.
Before the WSP was introduced, the management and rationing of high quality stocks took place at port terminals, said Fitzhenry, adding it makes more sense to pay the storage directly to farmers.
About 15,000 tonnes were enrolled in the program in 2008-09, up from about 11,000 tonnes the previous year. It could accommodate up to 150,000 tonnes.
