In 2024, farmers will spend less on fertilizer, diesel and other inputs, but costs are only marginally lower, said Darren Bond, a farm management specialist with Manitoba Agriculture,

“The crop this year … the cost of putting in this crop has only retreated slightly,” he said. “It’s going to be our second most expensive crop [ever] to put in.”

Analysts expect a return to tighter margins for grain producers in 2024.

Bond pointed to data from the Manitoba Agriculture 2024 Cost of Production guide for crops. The resource contains detailed estimates for target prices, target yields, fixed costs (land, machinery) and operating costs such as seed, pesticides and labour.

Costs have declined, especially for fertilizer, but the math shows the drop in commodity prices over the last 12 months for wheat, canola and other crops could hammer the per-acre revenue in 2024.

Using canola as an example, prices were above $19 per bushel last January and are now less than $15. Urea was at $1,150 per tonne in fall 2022 and $810 per tonne this fall.

For a 45-bu. canola crop, the decline in revenue is about $184 per acre. For 120 pounds of urea and 40 lb. of phosphorus per acre, the savings are only $50 per acre.

In this scenario, canola growers are expected to lose $134 per acre in revenue compared to 2023.

“The gross revenue got mowed down, where the fertilizer pricing is only shaved down,” Bond said.

Almost every crop was profitable in 2023, according to cost of production guide numbers. This year, with average yields, most cereal crops are projected to have negative returns, including small losses for spring wheat and corn.

Canola and soybeans are in the black, but not by much. The guide projects a return on investment of 5.1 per cent for canola and 7.27 per cent for soybeans.

Caveats

Crop production estimates are based on fixed costs of $190-$200 per acre. If a farmer owns most of their land and doesn’t have massive payments on equipment, the math is more hopeful.

Plus, the target yields are averages for the province. If a grower has a history of exceeding the average for a particular crop, positive returns are more likely.

“I think it’s important to reach maximum yield in years like this,” Bond said.

He emphasized that growers must adjust management practice to achieve net positive returns this year. “Equipment and fertilizer are the two areas we need to focus … our management, to wring some profit out of 2024.”

But some producers are more worried about price and risk management.

Rick Rutherford, who farms north of Winnipeg near Gross Isle, has been watching the decline in crop prices this winter.

“Our markets are in a bit of a freefall…. Commodity prices since [autumn] have dropped by over 20 per cent…. It’s got more to do with how [prices] play out in the next three to four months,” he said.

“The cost [of production] … isn’t what we’re worried about. It seems to be fairly stable or even softening a little bit for fertilizer.”

Rutherford tries to stick with a crop rotation. He doesn’t want to shift acres because one crop looks slightly more profitable than another. Instead, he’s mulling when and how to price the 2024 crop.

“This is where my mind is going…. What are we going to get paid for this?” he said, adding that contracting production has been fairly slow this winter, at least in his region.

“There really hasn’t been a lot of offers … [or] nothing has been attractive.”

Shopping around for the best price is critical, and it’s another way to manage risk.

What’s clear is that crop prices are at early 2021 levels, but input costs are much higher than in 2021. The risk to growers is going “through the roof,” Bond said.

“Last year, we were talking about an expensive crop, but there was margin there. Now we’re into a slightly less expensive crop … and the margins are shrinking.”

He urged growers to be cautious.

“Don’t party likes it’s 2022. … We’re returning to what looks like historically tighter margins.

The post Crop revenue ‘mowed down’ by falling prices appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

That was the message as Farm Credit Canada provided its latest update on input prices for the 2024 crop year.

Why it matters: The wild price swings for crop inputs, especially fertilizer, appear to be over, but farmers should keep abreast of issues that might affect prices as they plan for spring seeding.

Fertilizer prices reached new highs in 2022 when the war in Ukraine threw a wrench in the machinery of global supply when it was already tight. For months, chaos reigned in the markets as a result of the conflict and related international sanctions against Russia and its ally, Belarus.

Natural gas prices skyrocketed as Russian supply choked off, leaving previous European customers scrambling to find new suppliers. Russia was previously Europe’s main supplier of natural gas, while both Russia and Belarus are important fertilizer exporters. With that supply off the table, global fertilizer demand surged.

Today, FCC experts said, the world seems to have acclimatized to a new normal.

“It’s safe to say the world got used to trading these different commodities from elsewhere in the region,” said Leigh Anderson, senior economist with FCC and author of the organization’s 2024 Crop Input Outlook.

As demand softened because of high prices, global fertilizer production and supply increased. Russia was heavily embargoed on the international stage but found markets for its fertilizer. China also re-entered the urea export market, pushing global production volumes.

“While there’s not necessarily a price premium anymore, we’ve gotten comfortable with the other suppliers filling that void,” Anderson said.

However, the economist warns that European production isn’t certain and China is unpredictable.

“China will still be a wild card if, for whatever reason, they change policy,” said Anderson. “That’s on most commodities; they can always change their decision on a dime. We’ve seen that in other markets and commodities over the years.”

But for now, Anderson said there seems to be a sense of equilibrium.

Dealing with ripples

Effects of the previous market rollercoaster are working their way through the system.

Producers may have lower prices, but efforts to predict supply and demand during volatile times were a challenge for retailers.

After the spikes in 2022, fertilizer prices collapsed. Retailers who had committed to buying supply at those higher prices were left holding the bag.

“Most of us had a pretty huge debacle in terms of selling at a negative margin,” said Ray Redfern, president and CEO of Redfern Farm Services, a crop input retailer based in southwestern Manitoba.

“The reality is that we’re going to be even more nervous about making a long-term commitment for fear that we have a situation where we lose hundreds of dollars per tonne on everything that we sell.”

If retailers shy away from pre-orders, producers could have limited options and may have to settle for whatever retailers have on hand. Redfern said supply remains tight for many fertilizer products and prices are expected to remain under pressure early into the New Year.

Drought conditions in the Canadian Prairies, which have reached crisis levels in some parts of the West, could also soften demand, since lack of moisture could mean more residual nitrogen in the soil.

But Redfern says some products will almost certainly be in short supply. Anhydrous ammonia is a big one.

“Customers are going to have to either delay that product use to a spring [delivery] or we’re going to have to give them substitute products [urea or UAN],” he said. “So, we’ll be trying to work this out with growers who didn’t plan to have to use alternatives.”

Chemical inputs

The global recovery of agro-chemical production, along with softer demand, has led to increased global supplies, according to FCC.

“Overall, global prices have moderated for both glyphosate and glufosinate,” the lender said in its report.

Redfern sees more price stability in all the crop protection products his company offers.

“For crop protection products, whether it’s fungicides or herbicides, that market is more stable,” he said.

“There is less uncertainty in terms of product supply now that the supply chains are working as they should.”

Seed

FCC noted the 2023 drought sparked concern on stability of commercial seed markets.

The future trends of those markets will largely depend on the ability to grow seed supplies in South America during the Northern Hemisphere’s off-season, it noted.

Redfern says he doesn’t anticipate a big problem with seed.

“We haven’t heard yet of worldwide shortfalls in the production of some of the seed that’s not produced locally.”

He added that, despite the drought, local seed growers will produce enough to meet his customers’ needs.

“It’s possible that there’ll be some restrictions on a variety or two, but seed will certainly be available.”

An El Niño weather phenomenon could mean another hot, dry summer for the Canadian Prairies, which could increase demand for earlier maturing varieties.

Fuel

On fuel, FCC suggests that diesel prices will trend lower in 2024 as global economic growth slows.

“Our preliminary estimate indicates that farm diesel prices will be 2.8 [per cent] lower in 2024,” the report said. It cautioned that continued global uncertainty and low U.S. supply could keep prices high.

Demand-side pressures

Anderson’s report indicated several factors can affect the market and producers should keep their ears to the ground.

Canadian crop receipts were up 19.8 per cent for the first half of 2023, driven by strong sales of canola and wheat. But in drought-stricken areas, crop receipts are expected to decline significantly this year and into the first half of 2024.

“Strong farm cash flow remains key to crop input sales,” said the report. “Pre-purchase trends for the remainder of 2023 may provide an early indication of what the sector can expect for 2024.”

There are also general economic factors to consider.

The Bank of Canada held its policy rate this month, which could indicate a plateau in interest rate hikes. FCC predicts interest rates will lower by the second half of 2024 as the global and Canadian economies weaken.

The post Calmer waters ahead on input market appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Editor’s Note: Ron Helwer, owner and founder of Shur-Gro Farm Services, was formally inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame Nov. 4 (photo above). The Co-operator spoke to Helwer when his name was first announced for the honour in July. This is what he had to say:

[UPDATED: Nov. 8, 2023] Ron Helwer is the owner and founder of Brandon-based agribusiness Shur-Gro Farm Services, a company he founded in 1968.

While many of his contemporaries would have long since retired, at 90 years old, Helwer is still active in the business and goes to work every day.

“My general manager is the early bird,” said Helwer. “He gets to work at six, and I get there about a quarter after.”

Helwer came honestly by his work ethic and entrepreneurial verve. He was born in 1933 and grew up on a mixed farm near Libau. In 1952, his father started a Massey-Harris farm implement dealership in the village. Helwer was 19 years old and eager to get his career going. Not content to just work for his father, he was determined to buy into the business.

“I had to get some money to be a partner,” he said. “I went to his bank, and they wouldn’t loan me any money, so I had to go to a local insurance agent in the village. He loaned me the money.”

The business went well beyond selling farm implements. It included a repair shop that serviced every kind of tractor or car. Soon the business began selling home appliances like fridges and stoves.

“In 1954, we started selling televisions,” said Helwer. “So we were out there putting antennas up on farmhouse roofs. We kind of did a lot of different things.”

In fact, it was during that time that Helwer first got into the business of selling fertilizer. The business averaged roughly two carloads a year of bagged fertilizer.

“It was mostly phosphates,” he said. “If we had been selling nitrogen fertilizer, business would have grown a lot faster because the phosphate didn’t show up in the colour of the crop like nitrogen does.”

The business continued to expand. His father soon bought another dealership in Selkirk. His brother also became a partner, and the two eventually bought out their dad. They remained partners until they sold the business in 1960.

Helwer then bought a fuel business in East St. Paul, which is when the fertilizer sales portion of the business began to take off.

By the mid-60s, Shell and Simplot had established fertilizer plants and were looking for dealers.

“Previous to that, most fertilizer was sold as a sideline by implement dealers,” Helwer said. “I could see that it was going to grow. So I was looking to get into the business.”

In 1968, Helwer started Shur-Gro in Brandon. It expanded quickly over the next few decades, and so did his family. He and his wife raised three children, who also helped with the business.

Helwer’s business acumen allowed the company to weather tough times, and those years helped with the company’s expansion because hard times will often see companies divest assets.

“We bought the assets of the Gulf Oil fertilizer business in Brandon and in Killarney,” he said. “It was our first expansion.”

The 1980s farm crisis saw interest rates soar, land prices plummet and farm foreclosures explode.

“It wasn’t just the farmers who had difficulty,” says Helwer. “We had a tough time collecting our receivables.”

Fortunately, Shur-Gro wasn’t overburdened with debt and Helwer was able to turn the 1980s farm crisis into a positive for the company by buying struggling dealerships in Wascana and Shoal Lake.

Throughout the years with Shur-Gro, Helwer has tested the waters with a number of different businesses.

He got into soil sampling initially as a loss leader to grow new business.

“Soil sampling wasn’t a common thing in the late ’60s and early ’70s,” Helwer said. “I would tell them to let me do soil sampling so that I could help them. It was a good sales tool.”

Helwer also dabbled in the construction business, with locations in Medicine Hat and Lethbridge. He eventually sold that business to his partners. He had an implement business that he sold to Toromont a decade ago.

Today, Shur-Gro has 13 outlets, all within Manitoba. Shur-Gro is also a partner with Double Diamond Farm Supplies, which has seven outlets — six in Manitoba and one in Saskatchewan.

Outside of his business interests, Helwer has developed an ethos of giving back to the community and the industry that sustains his business. He is one of the founders of what is now known as the Canadian Association of Agricultural Retailers.

“In the 1970s, Alberta folks had the Alberta Fertilizer Association, and I used to go to their meetings,” said Helwer. “A fellow from Melfort, Saskatchewan, and I made a proposal to them to form a western association.”

Helwer was nominated for the board of the fledgling organization (then known as the Western Fertilizer and Chemical Dealers Association) and soon became president.

“I’ve kept involved and tried to get one of our people, if not myself, to be on the board,” he said. “There are some important functions and regulatory things that the association does for its members that are important to carry on.”

That sense of duty carries into his philosophy about the communities where he does business.

“We’ve tried to keep involved in the community, not just in Brandon but wherever we are,” says Helwer. “We try to encourage our people to be on local council or to get involved in service clubs and do things to help the community. All communities need help to keep things going, whether that’s a baseball team, a hockey team, or a school organization.”

Asked if he has thoughts about retirement, Helwer laughed.

“I’m 90 years old! I should have retired long ago!”

He says he thought about retiring when he was in his 60s, but he enjoyed his work too much.

But he’s hopeful that once his son, MLA Reg Helwer, leaves provincial politics later this year, he’ll come back to take over.

“He says he doesn’t want to, but he might anyway,” says Helwer.

In the meantime, he’s content to stay put.

Helwer is one of seven Canadians being inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame. The 2023 induction ceremony will be held on Nov. 4 in Charlottetown, P.E.I.

The post Ron Helwer named to Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Now, facing a global shortage of commercial fertilizers made worse by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, more U.S. growers are knocking on his door. Sandquist says they’re clamouring to get their hands on something Old MacDonald would swear by: old-fashioned animal manure.

“I wish we had more to sell,” said Sandquist, founder of Natural Fertilizer Services Inc., a nutrient management firm based in Iowa. “But there’s not enough to meet the demand.”

Some livestock and dairy farmers, including those who previously paid to have their animals’ waste removed, have found a fertile side business selling it to grain growers. Equipment firms that make honeywagons are also benefiting.

Not only are more U.S. farmers hunting manure supplies for this spring planting season, some cattle feeders that sell waste are sold out through the end of the year, according to industry consultant Allen Kampschnieder.

“Manure is absolutely a hot commodity,” said Kampschnieder, who works for Nebraska-based Nutrient Advisors. “We’ve got waiting lists.”

Sky-high prices for industrial fertilizer are projected to reduce American farmers’ corn and wheat plantings this spring, according to U.S. government data. That further threatens global food supplies as domestic wheat inventories are the lowest in 14 years, and the Russia-Ukraine war is disrupting grain shipments from those key suppliers.

While manure can replace some of the nutrient shortfall, it’s no panacea, agriculture specialists say. There’s not enough supply to swap out all the commercial fertilizer used in the U.S. Transporting it is expensive. And prices for animal waste, too, are rising on strong demand.

It’s also highly regulated by state and federal authorities, in part due to concerns about impacts on water systems.

Manure can cause serious problems if it contaminates nearby streams, lakes and groundwater, said Chris Jones, a research engineer and water quality expert at the University of Iowa.

Livestock farmers say it’s a heavy lift to meet all the government rules and track how manure is applied.

Race for waste

Regardless of the drawbacks, demand is booming.

In Wisconsin, three dairy farmers told Reuters they turned down requests to buy their manure sent via text and Twitter messages.

North Carolina-based Phinite, which makes manure-drying systems, says it’s fielding solicitations from growers as far away as Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa and Indiana.

Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer, has noticed the shift at the U.S. hog farms that supply its slaughterhouses.

“We’re definitely seeing farmers move toward manure with the increase in fertilizer prices,” said Jim Monroe, a spokesperson for the company, which is owned by Hong Kong-listed WH Group.

Industrial fertilizers such as nitrogen require a lot of energy to produce. Prices started to surge last year amid rising demand and lower supply as record natural gas and coal prices triggered output cuts by fertilizer manufacturers. Extreme weather and COVID-19 outbreaks also roiled global supply chains.

War in Ukraine has made the situation worse by reducing fertilizer exports from Russia and its ally Belarus due to Western sanctions and shipping snags. That threatens to shrink harvests around the world at a time of record food inflation. Combined, Russia and Belarus accounted for more than 40 per cent of global exports of potash last year, one of three critical nutrients used to boost crop yields, according to Dutch lender Rabobank.

As of March, commercial fertilizer prices reached a record high, with nitrogen fertilizer jumping four-fold since 2020 and phosphate and potash up three-fold, said London-based consultancy CRU Group.

One person left bereft is Dale Cramer, who grows corn, soybeans and wheat on about 6,000 acres at Cambridge, Nebraska. Searching for alternatives, he has sniffed around feedlots for manure since last August with no luck.

“A lot of people have put their names in for the same thing,” Cramer said.

Honeywagon scramble

With demand for manure surging, prices have followed, delivering an unexpected windfall to livestock producers and cattle feedlots.

Prices for good-quality solid manure in Nebraska alone have reached $11 to $14 per ton, up from a typical price of $5 to $8 per ton, consultant Kampschnieder said (all figures US$). A dry winter helped drive up prices by leaving manure with less water in it, making it more concentrated, and thus more valuable, he said.

Iowa farmer Pat Reisinger is relieved he has dung from the pigs and dairy cows he raises to fertilize the corn, soybeans and hay he grows to feed those animals. He sold a little manure to one neighbor and is getting phone calls from others in need.

“If I sold any more, I’d have to turn around and buy commercial fertilizer, which makes no sense,” Reisinger said.

The boom has also has lifted machinery companies that make spreading equipment for solid manure as well as so-called honeywagons: wheeled tanks hitched to trucks and tractors for transporting and applying liquefied waste.

In Ontario, Husky Farm Equipment is sold out of honeywagons. The company built its first contraption back in 1960 as a way to make collecting and spreading manure more efficient, according to company president Walter Grose. Today Grose sells directly to farmers and machinery dealerships, and he can’t keep up.

“We have people looking for equipment right away and we’re sold out for six months,” said Grose who sells honeywagons in several sizes. Bigger tanks come with a $70,000 average price tag.

CNH, the American-Italian farm and construction equipment giant, said it has seen strong demand for its New Holland brand box spreaders — essentially, a steel box that attaches to a tractor to haul and spread solid manure.

Kansas equipment dealership KanEquip Inc. is sold out of New Holland spreaders, even though prices have jumped 10 per cent from the normal list price of $30,000, said regional manager Bryndon Meinhardt. He said the dealership has ordered 10 more to meet demand.

No poop for you

Even in states where large livestock herds generate massive quantities of manure, there’s not enough to replace commercial fertilizer completely. Iowa, the top U.S. producer of pork and corn, already applies all of its manure on land covering about 25 per cent of its corn acres each year, said Dan Andersen, an associate professor at Iowa State University who specializes in manure management.

On average, Iowa uses about 14 billion gallons of manure annually, said Andersen, known as @DrManure on Twitter. He expects Iowa growers may suck out an extra billion gallons this year from storage in tanks on farms to substitute pricey commercial fertilizer.

Part of the current supply problem is rooted in the evolution of the U.S. farm economy. As America’s livestock sector has consolidated, there are geographical hubs where animals are raised for eggs, milk or meat, and where the most manure is produced. As a result, some places have too little, while others have too much and have wrestled with ways to dispose of it.

Last October, Pennsylvania dairyman Brett Reinford thought he might be tight on manure storage space over the winter. So he made an offer to local farmers: You come and haul it away, you can have it for free. He got no takers.

Fast forward six months and Reinford is now sitting on liquid gold. “We’re keeping it all and I wish we had more,” he said.

Manure could become even more precious later this year, as U.S. livestock herds and poultry flocks shrink.

The number of hogs in the United States has dropped to its lowest level in about five years, as producers grapple with swine diseases and rising costs for feed and other inputs. Bird flu, meanwhile, has wiped out more than 22 million chickens and turkeys on commercial U.S. farms since February.

But even hard-hit poultry farmers could have something to use: Their dead birds can be composted and applied as fertilizer, according to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.

— Reporting for Reuters by P.J. Huffstutter and Tom Polansek in Chicago and Bianca Flowers in Chicago and New York. Additional reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington, D.C.

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The inquiry stems from the Biden administration’s July 2021 executive order to promote competition across the U.S. economy, the agency said in a release Friday.

Global supply chain problems and inflation have sent fertilizer and other farm input prices soaring, limiting farmers’ ability to capitalize on decade-high grain prices. Fertilizer is expected to be even more scarce as global markets shun Russia, a fertilizer exporter to North and South America, following its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.

“Concentrated market structures and potentially anticompetitive practices leave America’s farmers, businesses, and consumers facing higher costs, fewer choices and less control about where to buy and sell, and reduced innovation — ultimately making it harder for those who grow our food to survive,’ Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in the release.

Vilsack said in February that he hoped that fertilizer and agricultural input supply companies would not take advantage of the crisis in Ukraine to push already high prices higher.

The Iowa attorney general’s office is also investigating high fertilizer prices. Prices for urea and potash are up more than 200 per cent since January 2021 and liquid nitrogen is up 290 per cent, the office said in February.

USDA will collect comments for 60 days.

The Department also announced a US$250 million grant to support “independent, innovative and sustainable American fertilizer production.”

— Leah Douglas reports on U.S. agriculture and energy policy for Reuters from Washington, D.C.

The post USDA opens inquiry into fertilizer, seed prices appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

But this year she is looking to find another crop for those 500 acres near Wilton as she has been unable to find the fertilizer needed to grow the yellow grain. So instead of planting corn, Meyer is leaning toward soybeans, as she has been found the pesticide needed to get that crop through the growing season.

“That’s one of the biggest things,” Meyer said. “Finding something that you can use to kill all the weeds.”

Global supply chain problems and inflation have sent fertilizer prices soaring and left many suppliers sold out. Limited plantings of wheat and corn, which require heavy use of high-cost fertilizer, could drive up the cost of bread, cereal and other staple foods. And demand for U.S. wheat and corn could rise further if Ukraine and Russia engage in a full-blown war and disrupt shipments from those two key export countries.

Russia is a major potash producer and exporter of natural gas, a key input in producing nitrogen fertilizer.

Russia and Ukraine together account for a combined 29 per cent of global wheat exports and 19 per cent of corn exports, and some traders are scrambling to secure alternative supplies as tensions escalate. Read full story

Cereal and bakery goods contributed to U.S. consumer prices jumping to their highest annual gains in 40 years and tight crop supplies could keep food inflation rising in 2022. Soybeans, meanwhile, are used primarily in animal feed and biofuel.

U.S. farmers did boost their winter wheat seedings in the fall but a dry winter in states such as Kansas and Oklahoma has raised concerns about a crop shortfall that could provide a further shock to prices.

Prices that also are enticingly high for other Plains crops, including oats, barley and canola, may limit the amount of spring wheat that is planted. Private analysts have already scaled back their expectations for spring wheat planting.

“If you do the math on budgeting, wheat is toward the bottom of the list, from a return per acre basis,” said Frayne Olson, an agricultural economist at North Dakota State University.

Furthermore, supplies of spring wheat seed are scarce in some areas as last year’s drought that wreaked havoc across the northern U.S. Plains crippled production of the seed that farmers will need to plant this year’s crop.

“I have about 20 per cent of what I normally have, and I am sold out,” said Bryan Jorgensen, who grows and sells seed wheat near Ideal, S.D. “It’s going to be tight.”

The U.S. will give its latest 2022 acreage forecasts on Thursday. Analysts polled by Reuters estimated corn acreage to fall by 1.6 million acres, or 1.7 per cent, from last year and soy plantings to increase by two million acres, or 2.3 per cent. Soybeans require less fertilizer than corn or wheat.

Even as prices for wheat surged in recent days as tensions between Russia and Ukraine escalate, U.S. farmers are still eyeing crops that do not cost as much to maintain over the course of the growing season.

“The value of all crops is good,” said Dennis Haugen, a retired farmer in North Dakota who sells seeds. “These prices are just crazy. There are guys going to plant beans and peas because they can get by with less fertilizer expense.”

— Mark Weinraub and Julie Ingwersen are Reuters commodities correspondents in Chicago.

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Lake Country Co-op and Prairie North Co-op announced Tuesday they have agreements in place to buy the assets of Melfort-based Paragon Ag Service from owners Sherman Boland and Don Nash for an undisclosed sum.

The terms of the deal, expected to close mid-month, call for Prairie North to take over Paragon’s sites just west of Melfort and at Brooksby, about 35 km northwest of Tisdale.

Lake Country, meanwhile, will take up Paragon’s dealership at Kinistino, about 30 km west of Melfort, and an anhydrous ammonia site near Gronlid, about 20 km north of Brooksby.

Taking up the Paragon business “will strengthen these local co-ops by growing their footprint and adding dry fertilizer and anhydrous ammonia assets,” the co-operatives said in a release.

Paragon’s full-time staff will be offered “similar employment” with the local co-ops, which said they will continue to deliver fertilizer, seed and crop protection services to customers in the area.

“Finding a partner who shares our values and could keep our business local was important to us,” Boland said in the co-ops’ release Tuesday.

Paragon has operated in the Melfort area since 1999, selling a “full complement” of crop input products and services including crop protection products, canola seed, dry fertilizers and anhydrous.

The co-ops noted they’ve made “strategic investments” to build up their ag businesses over the past year.

Most recently, Lake Country announced plans in December to build a new agro centre at Shellbrook, about 45 km west of Prince Albert. A fertilizer facility is already under construction there, the co-op said, with the rest of the site work due to begin in the spring. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Wheat eased from a two-week high hit earlier on Thursday as weaker crude oil prices and a firmer U.S. dollar offset tightening global supplies.

Corn edged lower, supported by a daily export notice and higher input costs heading into next year.

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) ended 21-1/2 cents lower at $12.24 a bushel (all figures US$).

Wheat lost eight cents to $7.41-1/4 a bushel, after hitting $7.52-1/2 overnight, its highest level since Oct. 7. Corn eased seven cents lower to $5.32-1/4 per bushel.

South American soybean crops look to benefit from rains forecast across Argentina and Brazil in the coming six to 10 days.

“If you’re putting some subsoil moisture down in Brazil,” said Kristi Van Ahn-Kjeseth, chief operating officer of consulting firm Van Ahn and Co. “That’s going to do wonders for them on their bean crop.”

Technical resistance for the most-active soybean contract at the 20- and 50-day moving averages also added pressure.

U.S. soybean export sales for the week ended Oct. 7 were 2.88 million tonnes, primarily due to sales to China, beating trade expectations, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Corn losses were eased by a daily export sale of 130,000 tonnes to Mexico, as well as strong weekly ethanol production.

Corn markets were also underpinned by concerns of rising fertilizer prices, which will impact corn more than soybeans, as farmers consider planting decisions for the 2022 season.

“I think the inputs story is really what’s keeping support under the corn market,” said Andrew Jackson, broker at Producers Hedge. “There are growers seriously considering going heavier beans next year.”

U.S. weekly corn exports of 1.27 million tonnes were up 67 per cent from the previous four-week session, the USDA said, near the high end of analyst expectations.

Wheat eased, pressured by a firmer U.S. dollar.

U.S. weekly wheat exports of 362,400 tonnes were down 36 per cent from the previous week, but in line with analyst expectations.

— Reporting for Reuters by Christopher Walljasper in Chicago; additional reporting by Naveen Thukral and Sybille de la Hamaide.

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U.S. wheat futures rose as Minneapolis Grain Exchange spring wheat futures set a nine-year top on tightening global supplies of high-quality milling wheat.

Additional support stemmed from a weaker dollar, which tends to make U.S. grains more attractive on the world market. The dollar dipped as risk sentiment improved.

Chicago Board of Trade December corn settled up nine cents at $5.39-1/4 per bushel after reaching $5.40, its highest since Oct. 6 (all figures US$). November soybeans ended up 17-1/2 cents at $12.45-1/2 per bushel.

CBOT December wheat finished up 13-1/4 cents at $7.49-1/4 per bushel and MGEX wheat reached $9.94-1/2, the highest on a continuous chart of the spot contract since July 2012.

With the U.S. harvest of corn and soybeans more than halfway complete, some end-users are raising their basis bids as they work to draw out supplies from farmers. Grain offerings have been limited by rains slowing fieldwork in the eastern Midwest, and worries among growers about rising costs for crop inputs such as fertilizer.

“With inputs going up, the producer is uncertain what his costs are going to be. So he is selling the excess (grain) that he can’t store, but holding on to the rest because of inflationary fears,” said Don Roose, president of Iowa-based U.S. Commodities.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said weekly production of corn-based ethanol in the latest week rose to 1.096 million barrels per day, the biggest weekly total since June 2019, while stockpiles rose to 20.08 million barrels.

Tightening global supplies of vegetable oil lent support to the soy complex. Malaysian palm oil futures rose more than two per cent to a record closing high; ICE canola futures surged to life-of-contract highs, with November closing Wednesday at C$949.30; and November rapeseed futures on Paris-based Euronext rose to 700 euros (C$1,005) a tonne, matching a record price set earlier this year.

CBOT December soyoil futures recorded a higher close for a sixth straight session, settling up 2.31 cents at 64.7 cents/lb. after reaching 64.9 cents, the contract’s highest level since July 30.

In China, constant rains in recent weeks have slowed wheat seeding and autumn harvesting, a government official said on Wednesday.

— Reporting for Reuters by Julie Ingwersen in Chicago; additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore.

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Bayer also estimates its average seed prices will go up about five per cent for 2022, Liam Condon, president of Bayer’s agricultural unit, told Reuters on Tuesday.

“What we’re seeing is a pretty robust order book,” Condon said. “How extensive that is, it’s still too early to call from our point of view. But it’s clearly noticeable.”

U.S. farmers have been gearing up for a spike in how much it will cost them to produce their corn and soybean crops next year, amid rising prices of fertilizer, chemicals and seeds due to labor issues, snarled exports and surging demand.

Bayer sees no impact on its full-year guidance from customers’ changing planting habits or a five-week shutdown at its main glyphosate herbicide production site in Louisiana after Hurricane Ida, the German life science group said earlier Tuesday.

Bayer had to close the Louisiana factory after the hurricane slammed the Gulf Coast in late August, further complicating logistical and supply-chain problems that had already tightened global supplies of fertilizers and chemicals.

Prices in the fertilizer market, which also has been hammered by rising energy costs in Europe and China, are now soaring to levels seen during the global financial crisis.

“We lost five weeks of production. This will, of course, involve some cost that will have an impact on sales, but nothing to any degree that would impact our full-year guidance for this year,” Condon told investors on Tuesday during an online event.

Asked if rising production costs may push farmers to plant fewer acres of corn — which is a cornerstone of Bayer’s performance and tends to be a more expensive crop to produce — and more soybeans, Condon said it was too early to know whether producers might make any such shifts.

However, he said, Bayer would see any changes as seasonal fluctuations rather than anything that could affect the outlook of the company’s crop science division. He added that any product price increases would be passed on to Bayer’s customers.

“Our strategy has always been to pass on inflation, clearly, into the market,” Condon said. “This is the only way we will maintain a sustainable business, and we’re confident in our ability to do that.”

— Reporting for Reuters by Zuzanna Szymanska in Berlin and P.J. Huffstutter in Chicago.

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