The Manitoba Oat Growers’ Association is in good financial shape and the industry is targeting more sales to a growing Mexican market.
That was the word from the group’s latest annual general meeting last week, in conjunction with the CropConnect event.
For the year ended July 31, 2016, MOGA revenue over expenses hit $19,013, a significant improvement over the previous year’s deficiency of $72,841.
That’s a product of approximately $48,000 more in checkoff levy funds, and about $46,000 less spent on the proportionate expenses of the Prairie Oat Growers Association (POGA), says executive director Shawna Mathieson.
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“Our producer fees are based on every tonne of oats sold, so when there are more acres produced and sold, the amount of the checkoff dollars the commission receives goes up,” she said.
The checkoff for oats is 50 cents per tonne or about three-quarters of a cent per bushel — tied for the lowest of all checkoffs in Manitoba — and this amount per bushel does not vary from year to year.
Meanwhile, lower proportionate expenses resulted from POGA’s lower expenses. Its expenses fell in 2015-16 compared to the previous year, as a market development project focusing on increasing the amount of oats fed to horses in the U.S. concluded at the end of 2014-15.
“There is a new market development project that should be in the market this summer focused on asking consumers to eat ‘Oats Every Day,’ and incorporate them into meals such as lunch and dinner,” Mathieson adds.
Mexican demand
Canadian oat exports to Mexico have boomed in the last couple of years and that’s growth Prairie oat growers would like to see continue.
Moderate growth between 2012 and 2014 was followed by near doubling in both 2015 and then 2016.
“Our project to increase consumer demand in Mexico started in 2015,” Mathieson said.
Canadian oat sales to Mexico in 2012 reached approximately 38,000 tonnes, rising to about 41,000 in 2013 and nearly 49,000 in 2014. That level soared to over 83,000 tonnes in 2015, and again in 2016 when exports exceeded a whopping 147,000.
Australia, however, could stymie expansion plans. The country has been a large competitor in Mexico in the past, but this year it had a significantly larger oat crop, with Australia’s Rural Finance in November reporting oat production was up 24 per cent, compared to the prior year.
“Therefore it will have more crop to export, and will likely put additional price pressure on oats into the Mexico market,” Mathieson said.
