source: Farm and Food Report
When winter cereal producers meet in Saskatoon on February 14, there will certainly be talk of the drop in Saskatchewan acres of winter wheat, from close to 230,000 acres in 2003 to little more than 147,000 acres last year because of the weather.
But that does not give an accurate picture of how the industry is doing, according to Executive Manager of Winter Cereals Canada, Bob Linnell.
“Winter wheat production has been around 700,000 acres, spread across three prairie provinces; and, on the whole over the last six years or so, there has been a steady increase of 10 to 18 per cent in acreage. We see that as a positive sign. We consistently get between 60 and 100 growers at the meeting. That may not seem like a lot, but they are the ones looking for new avenues to further develop their farm.”
According to Linnell, winter wheat producers tend to have higher acreages these days, so they tend to look at spreading out their workload. Winter wheat allows them to do that.
“They are able to seed in the fall, roughly at the time they are starting to harvest their spring seeded crops. The next year, the winter wheat is harvested actually about a month ahead of any spring-seeded crop. They have a chance to do two things. They can get a crop off and spend more time adequately harvesting their fall-seeded crops that year. It also has an effect on bin storage. If you get winter wheat in a bin a month ahead of your spring seeded harvested crop, you can often empty it out and re-use that bin. In other words, you are doing two turns on that individual bin. It beats the market, as well.”
This year, Winter Cereals Canada has invited speakers who can help growers achieve higher returns on their investment and decrease input costs.
“Because the fertilizer is applied sometime later in the springtime — after the cereal is already growing the fall before — there have always been questions about how to properly apply the fertilizer that is going into the ground,” Linnell says. “Dr. Byron Irvine of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Brandon will talk about fertilizing winter wheat for maximum production — and Manitoba has been somewhat more successful in producing higher yields than we have, so he’ll share some of his secrets.”
As far as markets go, there may be a number of options for winter wheat with hog and cattle feeders once current supplies diminish, says Linnell.
“We see growth in the area of feeding hogs and livestock — hogs particularly, because it is a high energy crop and they can adjust the energy on other things. Hog feeders and hog feeding mills really like the product. Cattle feeders buy in bulk because of the quantity they need: so many tons, what is your best price per ton? And often hog feeders will contract winter wheat producers because they want a continuous feed stock supply.”
Linnell also has his eyes on ethanol production.
“Winter wheat is the preferred feed stock for ethanol production because of the productive capacity of it. The key right now is to produce bushels, and if you can do that at a lower cost of inputs, that’s the name of the game. We see that as a difficult thing to adjust to sometimes.”
At the end of the presentations, Winter Cereals Canada promises a productive Annual Meeting later in the afternoon, followed by a bear pit session and a trade show held jointly with the Direct Seeding Conference of the Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association.
The Winter Cereals Canada Annual Meeting is open to media and the public. To register, contact Bob Linnell at (306) 848-1252.
For more information, contact:
Bob Linnell
Winter Cereals Canada
(306) 848-1252
When winter cereal producers meet in Saskatoon on February 14, there will certainly be talk of the drop in Saskatchewan acres of winter wheat, from close to 230,000 acres in 2003 to little more than 147,000 acres last year because of the weather.
But that does not give an accurate picture of how the industry is doing, according to Executive Manager of Winter Cereals Canada, Bob Linnell.
“Winter wheat production has been around 700,000 acres, spread across three prairie provinces; and, on the whole over the last six years or so, there has been a steady increase of 10 to 18 per cent in acreage. We see that as a positive sign. We consistently get between 60 and 100 growers at the meeting. That may not seem like a lot, but they are the ones looking for new avenues to further develop their farm.”
According to Linnell, winter wheat producers tend to have higher acreages these days, so they tend to look at spreading out their workload. Winter wheat allows them to do that.
“They are able to seed in the fall, roughly at the time they are starting to harvest their spring seeded crops. The next year, the winter wheat is harvested actually about a month ahead of any spring-seeded crop. They have a chance to do two things. They can get a crop off and spend more time adequately harvesting their fall-seeded crops that year. It also has an effect on bin storage. If you get winter wheat in a bin a month ahead of your spring seeded harvested crop, you can often empty it out and re-use that bin. In other words, you are doing two turns on that individual bin. It beats the market, as well.”
This year, Winter Cereals Canada has invited speakers who can help growers achieve higher returns on their investment and decrease input costs.
“Because the fertilizer is applied sometime later in the springtime — after the cereal is already growing the fall before — there have always been questions about how to properly apply the fertilizer that is going into the ground,” Linnell says. “Dr. Byron Irvine of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Brandon will talk about fertilizing winter wheat for maximum production — and Manitoba has been somewhat more successful in producing higher yields than we have, so he’ll share some of his secrets.”
As far as markets go, there may be a number of options for winter wheat with hog and cattle feeders once current supplies diminish, says Linnell.
“We see growth in the area of feeding hogs and livestock — hogs particularly, because it is a high energy crop and they can adjust the energy on other things. Hog feeders and hog feeding mills really like the product. Cattle feeders buy in bulk because of the quantity they need: so many tons, what is your best price per ton? And often hog feeders will contract winter wheat producers because they want a continuous feed stock supply.”
Linnell also has his eyes on ethanol production.
“Winter wheat is the preferred feed stock for ethanol production because of the productive capacity of it. The key right now is to produce bushels, and if you can do that at a lower cost of inputs, that’s the name of the game. We see that as a difficult thing to adjust to sometimes.”
At the end of the presentations, Winter Cereals Canada promises a productive Annual Meeting later in the afternoon, followed by a bear pit session and a trade show held jointly with the Direct Seeding Conference of the Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association.
The Winter Cereals Canada Annual Meeting is open to media and the public. To register, contact Bob Linnell at (306) 848-1252.
For more information, contact:
Bob Linnell
Winter Cereals Canada
(306) 848-1252
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