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Crops are taking off.
(Heatwave sweeps the Prairies.)
Holy moly. It. Is. Hot. It's not just the temperatures rising this week, but the markets are too! There are growing concerns about the hot and dry (a theme you’ll notice this week) weather forecasts for the U.S. and the Prairies, and all you have to do is check on the spring wheat market to see what effect it's having!
Create more time to spend on the boat or out on the green by downloading the Farmbucks app. Search through any crop you want, any distance you want, and boom! All the top prices in that radius bubble will show up. But don't forget to then click on any month that interests you to see how all the “next best” bids/buyers compare!! We streamline everything to literally make it take seconds to get that killer deal.
I had a farmer reach out to me this week to tell me thank you because without my app he wasn't even looking at a certain company’s website/who he has never done business with *yet* and didn't realize its wheat bid was $0.50/bu higher! Needless to say, I was flattered. I’m a farmer, too. I get it. You want the best price too. It’s why I made Farmbucks in the first place—farmers helping farmers!
Market Recap:
Canola: Canola regained some strength this week with the Nov. canola futures flirting with its previous high (May 7 it went up to $769.6/MT.) The canola market is sensitive because of our extremely low carryover and projected strong demand, there is little-to-no room for below-average type yields. It’s still early but there has been less than ideal growing conditions from the lack of moisture, frost events and flea beetle pressure. This does not go unnoticed. We shall see if hot and dry weather affects our crop yields in the coming weeks.
It has been interesting to see all sorts of basis levels change this week by line companies (moreso for old crop). Be sure to check out all the latest bids.
Old crop levels are back up over $21/bu.
New crop levels are back up over $17/bu and as high as $17.64/bu for Dec.-Jan. delivery.
Wheat: Minneapolis wheat futures are on a tear making new highs today! Major concerns over the hot and dry forecasts persist mainly in North Dakota. U.S. spring wheat conditions are dire, with its worst start since 1988. North Dakota, in particular, has only 31% of its spring wheat rated good to excellent. Both Canada and the U.S. have grown less acres this year and the forecasts call for hot and dry conditions to return. It’s a total gamble on weather where it goes from here!
As for the Kansas wheat futures, they have gained some strength but not nearly as much as Minn. because the U.S. winter wheat crops look good. Harvest is underway in the U.S.
Barley: Pretty quiet. The big gains made in wheat and corn this week will provide a certain level of support to barley prices. Most feedlots have their summer needs covered. Nice to see new crop bids reach for that $6/bu mark again. Barley conditions across Canada, Russia, Ukraine and the EU are all looking good.
Peas: Little action this week.
Around the farm: What a week it’s been! I knew the heatwave was coming, but damn, it was a hot one! Any free time I find, I head to the lake, hence the picture of me and my four sisters (I’m the good looking one in sunglasses! ) Besides watching markets, I spent most of the week crop checking, searching for chemical deals, spraying in the mornings (before it got too hot), then would take out the boat and go for supper and swim on our local lake. That's the best on these hot days!
Crop checking report: My CWRS looks real good with the early-seeded portion now in the 3-4 leaf stage. I used PrePass XC for pre-seed burn off and because of our dry, cold seeding conditions, only the low-lying or peaty areas are full of weeds now. So, instead of making my usual one-pass herbicide spray in wheat, I opted to spot-spray all the problem areas ASAP. This plan, though, required a lot of calls to different input suppliers and chem reps. Chemicals aren't as easily available this year, even for something as long-standing as MCPA! Anyhow, I went with Prominex (new from Corteva) and MCPA for broadleaf control and added in Simplicity GoDRI (and don’t forget the Bindem!) for the wild oat fields. Apparently, I am moonlighting as a Corteva rep with all these products! We shall see how that all performs before I hit them again in a week or two with some Bayer products. In the meantime, the canola looks pretty decent if you overlook the flea beetle damage. I expect to start spraying my first-pass herbicide as soon as the weather lets me.
I hope your crops are looking good! Cheers to the weekend!
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