Grain companies including the government-owned Canadian Wheat Board had new contracts and pricing options for Prairie wheat, barley and durum on display here at a recent farmer meeting as the open market approaches Aug. 1.
So far, the new CWB will be the only company continuing to offer pooling options. Official told farmers it’s aiming to provide farmers with the greatest flexibility and risk protection.
For example, farmers who sign up for the CWB’s pools, deferred delivery or Futures First contract, can pick one or more grain companies to take delivery of their grain — provided it is successful in negotiating handling agreements with all Prairie grain handlers.
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As the harvest in southern Alberta presses on, a broker said that is one of the factors pulling feed prices lower in the region. Darcy Haley, vice-president of Ag Value Brokers in Lethbridge, added that lower cattle numbers in feedlots, plentiful amounts of grass for cattle to graze and a lacklustre export market also weighed on feed prices.
“You can shop around and try and get the best deal on handling and transportation costs,” Gord Flaten, the CWB’s vice-president for marketing, said in an interview March 8.
“That option of being able to select the handling company is unique to CWB contracts. You can’t get a contract like that from any other company.”
As of press time the CWB had only announced an agreement with Cargill.
Farmers selling to the CWB will be able to work out grain delivery times with the grain companies.
The board began a series of Prairie-wide meetings last week to explain its open market options, promising farmers can start signing contracts and see the CWB’s cash bids by month’s end.
