EDMONTON (Staff) – Canola oil processors are gearing up for a tough battle over farmers’ canola, as analysts predict fewer acres will be planted this year, said the head of a northern Alberta crushing plant.
“Competition is going to be tough,” said Petros Loutas, president of CIC Canola Canada which owns Northern Lite Canola, a crushing plant in Sexsmith.
Loutas said he expects canola acres to drop about 25 percent and his company is changing its marketing strategy to entice farmers to deliver canola to the plant.
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Loutas said his company is taking a sleeker approach to marketing by offering farmers brokering services and access to agronomists.
“We have to help them generate more bushels to the (processing) plant,” Loutas said during the Alberta Canola Producers Commission annual meeting.
Elimination of grain freight subsidies which subsidized the costs of shipping grain to ports and a two-fold increase in crushing capacity on the Prairies make delivering to crushers more attractive, he said.
“I don’t think crushers are going to be in dire straits,” he added.
With high wheat and barley prices, many analysts predict farmers will plant more of those traditional crops, making canola even more scarce.
