Most farmers are in the field trying to take off their crop, so the Canadian Wheat Board faces a challenge in telling them about new options for feed barley delivery and pricing.
“We realize right now farmers are in their combines, in their tractors,” said spokesperson Justin Kohlman, adding the board plans to advertise on radio stations to reach them.
Kohlman said the wheat board doesn’t know what to expect with the new program.
Earlier this summer, pricing options for wheat failed to attract much interest.
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But there were two groups of farmers who wasted little time last week in expressing their views about the program.
The Alberta Barley Commission said the program is a cash advance program rather than a marketing option for farmers.
Chair Ken Sackett said the wheat board’s pool return outlook, based on a year of marketing, often is lower than the going world market price.
The early payment option is worth 90 percent of the PRO mid-point, minus a fee.
“Barley growers want to take advantage of export opportunities, but need credible prices to deliver against,” said Sackett.
Feed barley prices around Lethbridge represent a significant premium for many Alberta growers, he said.
Sackett reiterated calls for an end to the wheat board’s monopoly on feed barley exports.
“The timing of the program’s announcement is suspicious,” he said, noting the CWB’s board of directors campaign will soon begin.
“Misguided”
The Western Barley Growers Association called the program “well intended, however misguided,” according to a statement from president Albert Wagner. The association is worried the cost of the early payment option will be too dear.
The fee charged for the program may vary daily. The first schedule was to be announced Sept. 5, after Western Producer deadlines.
The association is also concerned that the wheat board may sell some of the barley into the domestic feed market, undercutting producers who sell their barley locally.
“Because the CWB has a monopoly on all barley sales except into the domestic feed industry, there is no true price discovery or competition at the farm gate…,” said Wagner.
“Therefore, we are not certain our returns are a true reflection of what the market would provide producers,” he said.
