COALDALE, Alta. – Growing peas under a contract with Lucerne Foods Ltd. has helped make life easier for John Hubert.
“It’s a nice crop to grow because the company harvests it,” the Coaldale, Alta. farmer said in mid-August as he watched six Lucerne harvesters clean up his field.
Hubert is one of 45 farmers in southwestern Alberta under contract with Lucerne.
In a typical year Lucerne contracts 3,000 acres of peas, 450 acres of green and wax beans, 2,850 acres of corn and 25 acres of carrots. The Alberta processing plant is the company’s main vegetable processing facility in Canada and supplies Safeway stores across the country.
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
Peter Djordjevic, agricultural field superintendent for Lucerne’s processing plant in Lethbridge, said he doesn’t expect to see more farmers contracted to grow peas for Lucerne.
“The grower base doesn’t grow much. Contracts pass from father to son. You can’t go buy a contract.”
The relationship between the company and the farmer begins early.
“We start negotiations to resolve the price of raw product. We supply him (the farmer) with the seed. He’s responsible for seeding and weed control, herbicides and insecticides and then we come in.
Company harvests
“We own the harvest equipment and come in and do the harvesting, and take (the product) to the plant. When the crop is off, we typically give a net cheque.”
Farmers are paid $300 to $600 per ton, depending on the maturity of the crops.
Djordjevic said the farmers’ costs are negotiated into the price prior to seeding. This includes the seed, harvest, trucking and crop insurance. All this is deducted from the cheques issued by Lucerne.
Hubert said he pays $74 a net ton for Lucerne to harvest the peas.
“If I get two tons, I pay $74 times two to harvest. If I get two and a half tons, I pay two and a half times $74.
“Cost is tied to yield. With better yields, it costs more, but the more money we make.”
Lucerne gives the farmers staggered schedules for seeding and harvesting. The harvest begins in early July in Vauxhall and moves southward, eventually reaching Hubert’s crop just west of Coaldale. His was the last pea crop to come off on Aug. 19.
Lucerne uses two crews working 24 hours a day to get the peas off. The company provides the harvesters, their operators, five or six trucks and two mechanics on the field.
One of the mechanics, Ken Zuidhof, said when the crop is mature there are only about two days to harvest it so the crews have to work quickly.
Djordjevic said this year’s pea crop was average. Earlier peas had higher yields, but August weather led to better quality in later crops.
Hubert’s field yielded two tons per acre, better than the average of 1.8 tons.
