Two new websites providing free information are designed to give farmers the same window on the canola and oats markets that the big grain traders have been looking through for years.
And what sort of information can you see when you look out these cyber windows?
There are canola and oats production statistics for major growing countries and explanations of how the countries fit into global oilseed and feed grain supply and demand.
There are canola market outlooks, daily reviews of market action and regularly updated vegetable oilseed futures prices from the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange and Chicago Board of Trade
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And there are cash prices provided by grain companies and processors.
“We were already supplying this information to our corporate clients on a commodity basis and we thought there was an opportunity to expand it to growers,” said Randy Strychar, president of Statcom Ltd., the owner of www.oatgrower.com and www.growcanola.com.
“It’s pretty much what the corporate client gets. The difference is that the corporate side is more detailed. But once growers see this, they are going to realize it’s good, high quality information for free.”
Strychar got the idea of creating a company to provide canola and oats market intelligence after spending years as a trader with Xcan Ltd., the biggest private grain trader in Canada
“I would struggle, day in and day out, even at a big company like that, to get what was really useful to discover price.”
So he quit and started seeking the national and international sources of supply, demand and trade information needed by a corporate clientele.
“The information is so scattered around various websites, various information sources and (to collect it) is really a daunting task. We thought there was a good market to put everything related by commodity into one place – one-stop shopping.”
With the web service, farmers have that information.
Strychar said advertising on the site from grain companies and processors will allow him to supply the information free.
“The line companies are really paying for the farmers to get this high quality information.”
The initial advertisers are Saskatchewan Wheat Pool-AgPro and Agricore and they, plus the crusher CanAmera, are the first to provide canola cash prices for publication on the site.
CanOat, Robin Hood, Westglen Milling and Alberta-Oat are providing oat mill cash prices, in addition to the elevator companies. But big agribusinesses are not investors and they have no say in content, he said.
“We will likely have two more line companies and two more crushers in about two months,” he said, adding he hopes soon to have almost all major grain, crushers and oat milling companies providing prices.
Also in the future are the same type of services for growers in Australia, the United States and Europe.
“We want to be the global provider of canola and oats information, in Canada, overseas, wherever.”
