Glacier FarmMedia – Feedlots continued to purchase corn imports from the United States, putting pressure on feed barley and wheat prices in Western Canada. However, the prospective of fewer planted acres this spring could give prices a boost.
Erin Harakal, trade manager for Agfinity in Stony Plain, Alta., said there is a lack of demand for domestic feed grains, causing price declines for feed barley set for January to March delivery. In addition, a mostly mild winter in southern Alberta this year meant less feed consumption by livestock and fewer purchases by feedlots.
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“Buyers are looking more into March now, than they are for February. We even have buyers who are looking into April, May and June,” Harakal said. “There’s just a lot of supply right now.”
Despite projected declines in acreage for non-durum wheat and barley, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) estimated increased production for the 2024-25 marketing year in its first outlook for the season released on Jan. 22.
Harakal said that while seeding intentions will be made clearer as spring approaches, farmers may grow less of one staple feed grain.
“It does sound like that a lot of producers I’ve talked to probably won’t eliminate barley from their rotation, but they’ll grow fewer acres and look at some of the other crops as well,” she said. “Prices have been doing well for new crop (feed barley). From August to November for new crop, we’ve heard prices anywhere between C$305 to C$315 (per tonne) delivered in Lethbridge right now. Which is crazy considering January to March, we’re hearing C$285 to C$300 and then to June, C$300 to C$310.
“I think feedlots are trying to lock some stuff in, so they don’t have to go to corn next year.”
The high-delivered bid for feed barley in Alberta on Jan. 24 was C$6.64 per bushel, according to Prairie Ag Hotwire, down 44 cents from one month ago. In Saskatchewan, the high-delivered bid was unchanged from last month at C$5.75, while in Manitoba, it rose 25 cents to C$5.50.
For feed wheat, the high-delivered bid in Alberta was C$9.12/bu., down 27 cents from the previous month. Saskatchewan’s went down 50 cents to C$8.38, while Manitoba’s was 13 cents lower at C$7.52.
— Adam Peleshaty reports for MarketsFarm from Stonewall, Man.
