That’s according to a new economic footprint assessment of the centre’s breeding work, released July 16 at Ag in Motion. The report noted an internal rate of return of 14.9 per cent for the centre’s key stakeholders, producing a benefit-cost ratio of 10.8.

Each dollar spent across the centre’s plant breeding programs provides $10.80 in benefit to farmers across the three Prairie provinces, producing a present value of net benefits of $10.2 billion.

For lentils alone, in which CDC-produced varieties hold the bulk of market share in Western Canada, the internal rate of return jumps to 20.1 per cent, for a benefit-cost ratio of 37.4 and a present value of net benefits of $4.2 billion.

Stay tuned to your AgCanada news app for more Ag in Motion coverage.

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“Western Crop Innovations will carry on the Field Crop Development Centre’s substantial legacy, ensuring its work is addressing the issues farmers are facing in the fields,” said RJ Sigurdson, Alberta’s minister of agriculture and irrigation in a news release Wednesday.

The Alberta government pledged $3.2 million to the centre’s establishment, indicating in the news release that some industry support was expected. The relaunch is effective April 1.

The Field Crop Development Centre at Lacombe has been a hub for breeding barley and triticale varieties. The province transitioned it to Olds College in 2021.

Under the leadership of its new board, Western Crop Innovations will review its programming and “where necessary, will be transitioned to ensure crop innovations support Alberta’s farmers’ needs,” the news release said.

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Private exporters reported the sale of 390,000 tonnes of soybeans to China for delivery in the 2020-21 marketing year, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Monday.

Corn futures weakened on forecasts of crop-boosting rain in the Midwest, which is expected to ease the impact of recent hot weather.

“Adding to that, the equity markets came unglued overnight around the world, and that was a bit of a push, too,” said Don Roose, president of U.S. Commodities in West Des Moines, Iowa.

Weakening crude oil prices also weighed on grain futures on Monday, as coronavirus cases continued to rise, feeding fears that new lockdowns could hamper economic recovery and erode fuel demand.

Wheat futures traded sideways, still pressured by abundant supplies forecast in a U.S. government report last week. Leading Russian consultancies revised forecasts for this year’s Russian wheat harvest, tempering concerns about the effects of a dry spring.

But losses were kept in check by short-covering, traders said, as the market is seen as technically oversold after the most-active contract hit a near one-month low on Friday.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade (CBOT) gained 2-3/4 cents to close at $5.04-3/4 a bushel (all figures US$).

Soybeans slipped 2-1/4 cents to $8.69 a bushel and corn lost 3/4 cent to $3.29-1/4 a bushel.

China has stepped up purchases of U.S. soybeans in recent weeks, supporting prices.

U.S. soybean crushings fell 1.3 per cent in May, missing most analyst estimates, while end-of-month soyoil stocks declined from a near seven-year high, according to National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) data released on Monday.

— P.J. Huffstutter reports on agriculture and agribusiness for Reuters from Chicago; additional reporting by Naveen Thukral in Singapore and Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris.

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That’s according to the latest satellite data from the federal Crop Condition Assessment Program (CCAP), created in partnership between Statistics Canada and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

Crop development was much lower than normal across all three Prairie provinces.

“Dry conditions in the last few weeks preceding May 26 allowed seeding to take place normally, however the low moisture content of the topsoil is a concern and more rain is needed for normal crop growth,” Statistics Canada reported.

Rainfall across the Prairies was 40 to 60 per cent below normal in the previous two months, according to AAFC.

Meanwhile, spring precipitation in eastern Ontario and Nova Scotia was as much as 50 per cent above normal, according to the report. The conditions were delaying planting, and warmer and drier weather will be needed.

Detailed interactive maps are updated on a weekly basis by the CCAP and are available online.

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“The pollination stage is the critical part of the corn-growing period and I would say probably within the next three weeks we will know what yield is going to look like,” said Markus Haerle, chair of Grain Farmers of Ontario.

Dry weather has gripped many areas of the province for the past two months, making crop development highly variable. He said some fields have received spotty showers but many didn’t receive nearly enough.

“There might already be some impact on yields in certain areas of the province because of drought, but there’s still optimism since we got our rain the past few days.”

Producers in Ontario planted 2.16 million acres of corn this spring, slightly higher than last year’s 2.12 million acres.

Nationally, producers planted 3.63 million acres of corn this year — also a slight increase from 2016’s 3.56 million.

In Manitoba, the second-largest corn producing province, conditions are similar, with much variability being reported.

Daryl Rex of the National Sunflower Association of Canada is familiar with the corn situation and shares offices with the Manitoba Corn Growers Association. Manitoba corn development is highly variable, he said.

Moisture has been patchy with recent rain delivering amounts ranging from 50 millimetres near the international border to areas where fields barely received another 10 mm.

“The farmers that are fortunate to get the rain, should have, I’d say, a good average crop, whereas I’d expect some fields might be below average,” he said.

Some crops are tasselling down and starting to fill kernels, so timely rain would be especially appreciated now, he said.

Manitoba growers planted 428,000 acres of corn this spring, up from 410,000 acres in 2017 and 364,905 in 2016. Last year, growers in the province produced 50 million bushels of grain corn.

Producers in Ontario harvested 344 million bushels. last year, up from 330 million bushels in 2016.

Haerle said yields this year will depend on the usual factors such as soil type, moisture before planting and showers that have fallen since then, but dryness has persisted in many areas.

“In the middle of the province, which would be Prince Edward County, going north of Toronto, that’s probably the worst stretch where drought is basically going on still.”

Growers also faced problems in southern parts of the province, he said, such as in Essex County where they were forced to delay planting to late May or early June due to wet conditions and now are struggling with lack of moisture.

“Some crop looks just horrible,” he said.

“There’s not much you can do. Basically, pray for rain. Hope that the season is long enough that it can basically recoup out of the stress somewhat.”

Reports from Ontario’s agriculture ministry show maximum temperatures reached for the week of July 11-17 exceeded the 30-year average in 12 out of 12 recording stations and 10 out of 12 stations reported total rainfall since May 1 below the 30-year average.

Elora, at 129.3 mm of rain this year compared to the 206.4 mm average, and Peterborough with 141 mm versus the average of 200.9, are especially lacking in precipitation.

Manitoba Agriculture’s crop report for this week said corn in the southwest has started to show silks, while corn in the central region was silking and pollinating.

Corn futures in Chicago for the September contract were at $3.63 per bushel on Thursday (all figures US$). December corn closed at $3.7675 per bushel and March at $3.85.

— Terry Fries writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Glacier FarmMedia company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting. Follow CNS Canada at @CNSCanada on Twitter.

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While rains are forecast to be fairly general across eastern Saskatchewan and Manitoba over the next week or so, they are expected to cause minimal damage and harvest delays there.

In the Peace, crop development is already behind thanks to a wet spring and there were concerns about what untimely precipitation might mean for farmers.

Micheal Seabrook, location manager for Crop Production Services at Fairview, Grimshaw and Hines Creek, Alta., was quick to dispel those worries.

The harvest, he said, is very well advanced in areas he covers, which includes farmland from just north of the Peace River to La Crete, about 360 km north of Fairview.

“My La Crete customers and a lot through to the Manning and Deadwood area are well advanced at the harvest. I would say for the most part from 70 to 80 per cent along,” he said.

Though rain is in the forecast, conditions now are dry due to persistent winds, and small amounts of rain are likely to have little effect, he said.

“We’ve had some pretty wicked winds that have kept things dry and kept things moving,” he said.

“You know how farmers are. We’ll wait and see what next week brings. The forecast will change 10 times between now and then,” he said.

More of a concern, he added, is when the first serious frost hits, with predictions for frost tonight and tomorrow night. He said it could affect some later-seeded canola, which is still fairly green.

However, he said, overall, farmers are optimistic.

While harvest might be behind a bit, it is a major improvement from a year ago. Snow struck the region on the third week of September last year and kept farmers out of fields until November.

“What’s rolling into the bins is good quality and clean,” he said.

“Right now, our peas are still standing. We’ve had good weather to get them off. They’re nice clean samples and coming off decent.”

Farmers in the Fairview and Grimshaw areas are 70 to 80 per cent done combining peas, with Hines Creek slightly behind that pace.

Most farmers are getting into canola, with some being combined around Fairview and about 80 per cent lying in swaths in the Fairview-Grimshaw region.

“Guys are pretty optimistic right now.”

Most farmers haven’t started wheat harvest yet, though it developed more quickly than many people thought it would due to a warm, dry August. Much of the wheat was seeded late and many farmers were expecting to take it off in October, but it now appears it could be combined sooner than that.

“With what’s going and the crop that’s there, we’ve got an average to above-average crop for the most part. The bushels are there,” Seabrook said.

Bruce Burnett, director of markets and weather analysis for Glacier FarmMedia, said general rain for this week and next should not concern many growers in areas outside of the northern grain belt.

Following scattered showers, which are predicted for the middle of this week and next, he said more harvest-friendly weather should return.

“The longer-term forecast looks fairly good. We’re going to return on the Prairies to a warmer, drier flow,” he said.

The rain comes as a mixed blessing to farmers, he said, depending on where they live. While many southern farmers could use the rain to replenish dry soils, farmers in central and northern areas need to finish their harvests first.

Soybeans, a key crop still in the ground in southern areas, should be able to weather the expected precipitation, Burnett said. The soybean harvest is still a week to 10 days away in most areas, he added.

— Terry Fries writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Winnipeg company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting. Follow CNS Canada at @CNSCanada on Twitter.

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A large area of southern Saskatchewan and southwestern Manitoba has received less than 40 per cent of normal precipitation during the 30-day period leading up to June 5, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

Much of east-central Alberta and west-central Saskatchewan has the opposite problem, having collected more than double the usual amounts of precipitation.

The southern Prairies need 0.5 to 1.5 inches of rain soon — “a $1 million-dollar” shower to accelerate growth, said Dave Reimann, grain market analyst at Cargill.

Spring wheat and canola in Saskatchewan, the biggest provincial producer of those crops, are seven to 10 days behind their normal development, despite being planted on time this spring, said Shannon Friesen, cropping management specialist for the provincial government.

High winds have compounded the problem, drying up what little moisture Saskatchewan and Manitoba have received.

Some crops have yet to poke through the soil and may not emerge at all without a significant rain in the next week, Friesen said, adding: “Some of those crops could be done.”

Minneapolis spring wheat futures have gained about 12 per cent since mid-May on concerns about hot, dry weather in the northern U.S. Plains, which border the southern Canadian Prairies.

Environment Canada is forecasting hot, dry weather for most of the next week across the southern Prairies, although some dry parts of Manitoba and Saskatchewan may get periodic showers.

Canada is a major wheat exporter and the biggest global grower of canola, used to make vegetable oil.

Elsewhere, farmers who are planting later than normal may decide to sow additional acres of short-season crops, such as barley and oats, said FarmLink Marketing Solutions senior market analyst Neil Townsend.

Other farmers in Alberta’s wet Peace River region may expand canola plantings at the expense of spring wheat, which takes longer to grow, said Neil Arbuckle, national sales lead at the Canadian unit of seed and chemical dealer Monsanto.

“Although canola is costlier, even with a wheat price rally, canola could provide a higher return given the excellent yields farmers have been experiencing recently,” Arbuckle said.

Statistics Canada is scheduled to estimate Canadian plantings on June 29.

— Rod Nickel is a Reuters correspondent covering the agriculture and mining sectors from Winnipeg.

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“It’s a little too early to say what the final impact will be, but crops that saw that severe weather system did see some crop damage,” provincial crop specialist Pamela de Rocquigny said.

Amounts of rain varied across the province, ranging anywhere from 10 to 140 mm of rain, she said.

“Some areas are definitely wet and that’s having an impact on crop development and field operations, in terms of herbicide and fungicide applications,” she said.

“We see producers moving from ground applications to aerial applications just because field conditions are a little bit too wet.”

Those hardest hit have reported crop yellowing, slow crop development and some crop deaths, de Rocquigny said, but other areas are having better luck.

“The good news is that areas that haven’t received as much rainfall are actually in fairly good condition. We are seeing variability,” she said.

The full impact of the storms won’t be fully realized until approximately next week, she said, adding that she hopes for a change in weather.

“What we really need is just a stretch of some warm, dry weather,” de Rocquigny said. “I think crops have the capacity to recover from some of these excess moisture conditions that we do see.”

— Erin DeBooy writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Winnipeg company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.

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“The entire southern Prairie region hasn’t received normal rainfall for the last month to two months,” said Trevor Hadwen, an agro-climate specialist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Drought Watch department in Regina.

He described the dry conditions overall as a “one-in-10-year event.”

A large portion of the northern agricultural zones of Saskatchewan, and into western Manitoba, was also starting to look dry.

Much of central Alberta has also been dry for a long period, having received some rain, “but not near enough to get through,” said Hadwen.

The area around Winnipeg was also looking dry recently, but has seen some timely rains “and has turned around very significantly in a short period,” said Hadwen, noting conditions can change very quickly at this time of year.

“We are experiencing an extremely dry situation, but at the same time, timely rains could get us back to normal conditions,” he said.

“June will be a really important month,” said meteorologist Drew Lerner of World Weather Inc. in Kansas City. While he said it was “not a crisis yet,” he agreed a number of dry areas could become a concern.

The most important rain event will likely occur sometime between June 7 and 12, according to Lerner’s forecasts.

“It’s an event that looks to move west to east across much of the Prairies and it looks as though it will be favouring the driest area in eastern Alberta, and western Saskatchewan,” said Lerner.

“If it comes to fruition and it occurs as advertised, I think a lot of our crops will do very well for a while as long as we don’t get into hot conditions for very long.”

However, if the forecast rains fail to hit those driest areas, “we’re going to be fighting crop stress through the growing season,” according to Lerner.

Aside from the forecast June 7-12 rain event, he added, the bias was looking drier for most of the month of June.

While dryness is the major concern Prairie-wide, Hadwen noted there are still some problems with excess moisture in eastern Saskatchewan to watch as well.

— Dave Sims and Phil Franz-Warkentin write for Commodity News Service Canada, a Winnipeg company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.

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