Farmers were still signing up for the Canadian Wheat Board’s newest pricing option as the final hours ticked down to the 9 p.m. CST deadline July 28.
FlexPro offers farmers a daily cash price for wheat throughout the crop year.
The board wasn’t releasing sign-up numbers until the deadline, which was too late to be included in this story.
Board spokesperson Maureen Fitzhenry said the rate of sign-up picked up noticeably as the deadline approached.
“I saw 12,000 tonnes committed in a two-hour period (July 25),” she said.
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However, she acknowledged the final numbers probably won’t be as large as they have been for some of the board’s other more familiar pricing options.
For one thing, the program is new and the CWB’s new pricing options always take a couple of years to catch on.
Also, as wheat markets declined in recent weeks, so did prices offered under FlexPro, making farmers cautious.
“Those two things we expect will make farmers fairly conservative in their approach to this program, at least for now,” Fitzhenry said.
The board began publishing FlexPro prices June 23, when sign-up began, as a guide to farmers who were considering signing up.
The FlexPro contract price for Canada Western Red Spring Wheat on that day was $352.12 a tonne.
It climbed to $359.97 on June 26, then spent a week or so around $330 before declining steadily to $304.13 July 23.
Under FlexPro, farmers can sign up as much tonnage as they want and price it any day during the crop year.
Participants are paid the initial payment at the time of delivery and receive the difference within 10 days. They still must sign separate delivery contracts.
FlexPro offers a flat price without separate futures and basis components, reflecting futures markets and CWB sales.
The basis is determined using the CWB’s Pool Return Outlook, futures prices and sales throughout the year. That’s similar to the Fixed Price Contract but without the late sign-up adjustment factor.
When the board unveiled the program in June, it said it was in response to farmers’ requests for as much flexibility as possible in the way they price and get paid for their grain.
Fitzhenry said the board remains confident FlexPro meets those needs and will prove to be a popular option for farmers.
“But it’s going to take some level of getting used to how this program fits in to their overall pricing and farm management needs because it’s a different mix than it was before,” she said.
