The hot topic at the Manitoba Special Crops Symposium was why there are no new-crop contract prices for edible beans yet.
With only a few weeks left before decisions have to be made, many farmers were threatening to seed their acres to the big market crops if contract prices don’t appear soon.
It’s a situation that worries Sean Mackenzie of Fieldcrest International, an Ontario special crops marketer. He urged farmers at the conference not to give up on edible beans, even if prices don’t soon appear.
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“This might be the one year in which you plant them without a contract,” said Mackenzie in an interview after presenting the outlook.
The first contracts from Bush Brothers appear to be coming out, Mackenzie said, and that may begin to establish new-crop prices.
If, as rumoured, three-year contracts for navy beans in Michigan are $29 to $31 per 100 pound bag, then rough estimates for other beans can be made. Coloureds could be about $3 to $5 more. However, it will likely be a considerable time before marketers can get end users to agree to new-crop prices based on a Bush price, which is often a premium market.
Last year the situation was different. Edible bean marketers could offer early and lucrative contracts because they were able to convince end users that they had to compete with corn, soybeans and wheat for acres. In order to guarantee acreage, they offered good prices.
Unfortunately for buyers, those contracts were signed near the peak of the market and since then, prices have tumbled.
That’s left them feeling burned, Mackenzie said.
“They’re saying, ‘we got stung last year’ because the markets have fallen off $20. They’re saying, ‘we’re not really interested at this time giving you contract prices to support you at these prices because we believe the acres will be there anyway,’ ” said Mackenzie.
“We’re saying we don’t believe they will be. It’s a standoff.”
Market analyst and broker Mike Krueger of Fargo, North Dakota, said attitudes have swung against the farmer. Buyers feel confident staying away from the market now.
“Last year they knew if they didn’t have good bids out early that producers would go to the more typical crops – high priced wheat, high priced corn, high priced soybeans,” said Krueger.
“This year it’s much more difficult to find new-crop bids for anything, especially the specialty crops. Every buyer on earth is sitting back saying, ‘why should I take my foot off the base today when the odds are prices might go lower, interest rates might be cheaper.’
“It’s a real different atmosphere than we had before.”
