The higher profit potential of rival crops may steal away acres from mustard, as might wet weather if it continues into 2015
WINNIPEG — Canadian mustard acres could have competition this year, says the chair of the Saskatchewan Mustard Seed Development Commission.
“I would say mustard acres would be down a little bit from the previous year, just based on the profit potential for other crops,” said Richard Marleau, who farms near Aneroid, Sask.
“Lentils are looking to provide better returns right now, likely durum shouldn’t be too bad either.”
He said farmers may also want to use lentils and durum as swing acres if their crop needs to be rotated.
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Marleau said there are 500,000 mustard acres in Western Canada and some parts of the northern United States, of which 80 percent is yellow mustard.
However, the precipitation that hampered much of last year’s crop needs to stay away for those numbers to remain steady.
“Mustard doesn’t really like wet feet,” he said.
“Yellow mustard really doesn’t like to have wet soil.”
Humidity levels of 30 to 40 percent would be preferable to the 60 percent that some growers witnessed last year, he added.
Growers in southeastern Saskatchewan also had to deal with heavy ground saturation heading into freeze-up
Prices are strong with bids for yellow mustard averaging in the “low to mid-30s (cents per pound),” said Marleau.
Brown mustard and oriental mustard are in the mid-20s.
Those numbers may pale in comparison to some of the heights reached a few years ago, but Marleau said they are still solid.
“There might be gold dust in the growers’ eyes if they’re looking at last year’s price for durum, but they really should be looking at forward prices,” he said.
The weak Canadian dollar is helping move mustard, he added, with lots of opportunities on the spot market.
“I think everything has found a balance. There are still opportunities to sell, and (there are) still people interested in buying,” he said.
Ukraine is considered to be one of Canada’s top competitors for mustard. Marleau said it’s unclear if the conflict between it and Russian-backed separatists in the eastern part of the country will hurt production.
“You know, I’ve asked that question as well ,and it seems to be OK now,” he said.
“we’ll see what happens next growing season.”
