Canadian producers concerned by input costs, seeding delays

Weather-related seeding delays and input costs are top concerns for western Canadian producers as they gear up to seed their 2009-10 (August-July) crops, according to representatives for three provincial farm groups.

 

Ian Wishart of Manitoba's Keystone Agricultural Producers, Greg Marshall of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, and Rod Scarlett of Alberta's Wild Rose Agricultural Producers said that, while the mood among farmers isn't pessimistic, it is a far cry from last spring's price-driven optimism.

 

Expectations regarding return potentials for 2009-10 are about neutral, with no one anticipating any significant spike in commodity prices, said Marshall.

 

At this point, key concerns for grain and oilseed farmers are weather-related seeding delays and input costs, a combination which may still lead to changes in crop plans, he said.

 

Out in Alberta, Scarlett said farmers aren't as optimistic as they were ahead of the 2008-09 crop year but the ability of agricultural prices to hold up as well as they have given the economic environment has helped temper pessimism.

 

"The returns they feel they can get at least don't make producers feel as if they're going to go further into debt," he said.

 

Like Marshall, Scarlett also felt that spring seeding intentions would change due to pricing and input costs, with fertilizer-intense crops such as canola losing some ground to pulses and legumes.

 

When asked what the biggest concern would be moving forward, he replied, "Weather, like always, is going to be a big concern for farmers. We're always at the whim of the weather man."

 

In Manitoba, the mood among grain and oilseed producers was described by Wishart as "cautiously optimistic."

 

Producers had hoped to see a spring run-up in commodity prices that hasn't happened to any great extent; on the other hand, input costs this spring have remained within an acceptable price range, unlike last year, he noted.

 

Wishart believes anger about last year's fertilizer prices is keeping a lid on fertilizer purchases this spring.

 

"We're seeing the fertilizer industry saying this year that farmers aren't buying and they're asking what is the matter. The matter is what happened last year and producers aren't happy about it," he said.

 

Seeding delays are also on producers' minds although Wishart noted that few crops are ever lost in April.

 

Flood waters in the province seem to be receding slower than normal and there is still a record amount of flooded acres in the province for this time of year, he noted.

 

In the Interlake region especially, where there is still a lot of clean-up required from last fall's harvest, producers are worried about not getting onto their fields quick enough, he said.