Marketing Starts With Knowing What You Have

EDMONTON - Dec 2/04 - SNS -- Marketing any crop, but this year's western Canadian wheat crop starts with knowing exactly what you have in your bins, stressed Alberta Agriculture.

"The first step when making marketing plans is to know what you have. You need to know if your grain buyer has downgraded your wheat to "feed" due to frost or sprouting or bushel weight or all three," says Lee Melvill, market specialist with Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Brooks.

"Some reports are saying that grain companies are 'grading harder' this year than in the past, so be sure you know what you have. To make sure, take or send representative samples from each of your fields to the Canadian Grain Commission Service Centers in Calgary or Edmonton. The Grain Commission may also be 'grading harder' this year than in past years, but you still need to know what you have."

Once you know what you've got, there are a few suggested strategies that can be used. Any hard red spring wheat, that grades ##035;3 or better, should be committed to the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB).

If you have hard red spring wheat grading feed that, in other years, would have graded ##035;3, keep it, if you can, for several reasons. Later in the year, once it is known exactly what the Prairie crop is like, there may be blending opportunities.

Also later in the year, frost-damaged wheat might have milling characteristics that may be suitable for a ##035;4 CWRS grade. If nothing else, the price discount between ##035;3 and feed red spring is so large that it may well be worth keeping it until next year when the grain might be able to be blended off or might even grade a ##035;3 or possibly better

"Sprouted wheat is less likely to have milling qualities," adds Melvill, "so sprouted samples with a 58-pound or better test weight will probably find a better home in the domestic market."

If you know for sure you have feed wheat, expect domestic feed wheat prices to stay poor for several months. "Remember, we have a large barley crop and a huge U.S. corn crop hanging over our market prices," says Melvill. "On top of that we have a Canadian dollar that doesn't seem to know how to quit going up.

"If you know your wheat is feed, keep a close eye on prices. You may want to move your feed wheat locally at any opportunity above the $2.50 to $2.60 per bushel or better price range."