CNS Canada — While harvest is underway for most farmers across Western Canada, many corn growers are busy eyeing the moisture content in their plants.
“I know of guys testing at 32 per cent (moisture content of the kernels). That’s abnormal for this time of year,” said Morgan Cott, an agronomist with the Manitoba Corn Growers Association.
Corn is typically considered dry when it’s closer to 15 per cent, which means many producers could be stuck having to dry it with industrial ovens, if rains and wet weather return in the coming weeks.
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“The cost of drying corn takes a lot out of your bottom line,” MCGA president Myron Krahn warned.
Dry, warm days are what Manitoba corn producers will be looking for over the next five to six weeks, he explained.
Aside from the moisture concerns, the 2015 growing season has been a fairly normal one, with a few exceptions, said Cott.
“Spring brought an early planting time; guys were in the field the first week or two of May, which doesn’t always happen with corn because you want the warmer temperatures in the ground,” she said.
Disease and insect problems were minimal while more corn acres continue to pop up outside of the traditional growing area.
“It’s expanded a lot east of the river, in the Steinbach, Ste. Anne, St. Pierre-Jolys area. Those are big corn-growing areas now,” said Cott.
Most farmers Krahn has talked to are fairly happy with the crop’s progress thus far.
“I think for the most part guys should be expecting average yields, slightly above,” he said.
As far as the market goes, corn continues to sell at a profitable level but “not by much,” said Krahn, who farms at Carman, Man.
“It’s certainly not doom and gloom but it’s not rosy by any stretch of the imagination. Guys can make money if they get a yield,” he said.
A lot of Manitoba corn is eventually turned into ethanol, with Husky Energy a big buyer, along with the livestock feed sector, he explained.
According to the Prairie Ag Hotwire, the spot price for a bushel of corn, as of Sept. 21, was between US$2.66 and $3.11.
Krahn said the price generally has been creeping lower.
“We all wish the price was a little higher, but we’ll make do with what we got.”
He expected the bulk of the corn harvest to begin in the next two to three weeks.
— Dave Sims writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Winnipeg company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.
