BRANDON, Man. – Manitoba bean growers have whipped together a three-bean salad of solid market ingredients.
They’re planting more navy and colored beans than ever, harvesting above-average yields and attracting more buyers from points east, west and right at home.
And if growers don’t still have their beans in their bins, they’re even more satisfied, according to one long-time bean grower.
“For some of the major growing areas (in the pro-vince), these last three years have probably been three of the best years in the last 20,” said Glen Adrain, who was all smiles at an annual meeting of Manitoba pulse growers.
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Adrain said growers who sold navy beans in the fall timed sales right. Navy beans accounted for about 40 percent of the province’s 70,000 acres last year.
Weather worries clouding major bean production areas in Michigan and Ontario, buoy prices to 32 cents a pound.
But it was a temporary scare and growers who waited until now to sell find themselves looking at about 24 cents per pound.
“We would like to be able to roll the clock back, but we can’t,” said Adrain, who farms at Macdonald, Man.
Brad Ford of Cook’s, the bean-buying division of Parrish and Heimbecker from Centralia, Ont., told farmers he expects Canadian bean acreage to decrease two percent this spring.
In 1996, bean acres dropped about 13 percent because farmers planted cereals en masse.
“One of these days we’re going to get down to the point where we’re eating up the surpluses,” said Ford, referring to the main limiting factor on bean prices.
East will be discouraged
Ontario and Quebec will see major cuts in their navy bean production, Ford predicts, because they were stung by “poor yield, poor quality, poor price.”
Ford noted for the first time, more navy beans will be produced in the Manitoba, Minnesota and North Dakota region than in eastern areas.
“There will be some interesting times throughout the summer,” said Ford. “A lot of people will be watching the western U.S. production” for signs of weather problems, which he said could move surplus stockpiles down to normal levels.
Ford warned growers to watch how swings in the value of the Canadian dollar affect their returns.
He said if the dollar is at 76.08 cents U.S., a bag of beans priced at $30 U.S. is worth $39.40. But if the loonie rises to 80 cents as some predict, the bag is worth $37.50.
“You can be right in the market by one or two dollars per bag by storing or not storing, or forward contracting, but you can lose that all on the Canadian dollar.”
He also warned growers that China and Ethiopia are taking away some traditional Canadian export markets.
“We’ve got to be prepared for the changes and you have to keep bringing your cost of production down to compete with these other countries.”
