Millers are increasingly relying on Canadian wheat and oats as corn and soybeans devour acres across the United States.
Traditional cereal growing states such as Kansas, the Dakotas and Minnesota are succumbing to the corn and soybean tide.
“All of the wheat and oats is being pushed in a northwesterly vector up into Canada, and I expect that’s not only going to continue but probably accelerate,” Jim Bair, vice-president of the North American Millers’ Association, told the Prairie Oat Growers Association (POGA) convention Dec. 6.
Read Also
Agri-business and farms front and centre for Alberta’s Open Farm Days
Open Farm Days continues to enjoy success in its 14th year running, as Alberta farms and agri-businesses were showcased to increase awareness on how food gets to the dinner plate.
New drought tolerant corn hybrids performed well in Nebraska and the Dakotas last year, leading Bair to believe more wheat and oat acres will soon be lost in the U.S. to more profitable crops.
His presentation included a chart showing that U.S. oat production has fallen below a million tonnes, down from 16.7 million tonnes in 1960.
“Virtually every year for the last 30 years, with a couple of exceptions, we’ve set a new record low in oat production in the United States,” he said.
Almost all of what is produced in the U.S. goes into feed markets.
“I’m trying to underscore the importance of you folks to the U.S. and Canadian milling industries,” said Bair.
In an interview following his presentation, Bair said Canadian producers must take up the slack in U.S. production because food companies want more oats. Consumption has been increasing by about five percent a year.
“Demand is very strong,” he said.
“People are starting to recognize the heart healthy benefit of oats. It was the first food in the U.S. that was allowed to make a heart healthy claim.”
The crop is particularly appealing these days because the shaky economy is prompting many U.S. families to try reducing their grocery bills.
“Not only is it heart healthy, but it’s an inexpensive food,” said Bair.
Private commercial oat breeding programs are nonexistent in the U.S, which is why NAMA contributed $510,000 to the North American Collaborative Oat Research Enterprise. The genetic mapping research initiative is aimed at identifying beneficial traits that can be bred into new oat lines.
“We’re looking at all kinds of things from increased yields to rust resistance to looking at the heart healthy components,” said Bair.
He said the project has been successful and should put plenty of new beneficial oat lines in the hands of producers over the next 10 years.
“That’s going to be super important to keep oats as a competitive crop,” he said.
Millers are nervous that the corn and soybean acreage blitzkrieg taking place in the U.S. will spill across the border into Canada. It’s already happening in Manitoba, where oats are losing ground to the big two.
“We’re looking at that picture and saying, ‘look, we better get out in front of this train and compete and develop some oat varieties that will make reasonable crop options for farmers and at least be in the game,’ ” said Bair.
The goal is to develop lines that will deliver increased profitability for producers and improved health attributes for the milling industry.
