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Spring
2018
Grains
West
10
THE
FARMGATE
FEEDGRAINFACTORS
EXPORTOPPORTUNITIESANDA STABLE BEEF SECTOR ADDUP
TOOPPORTUNITY
THE RISING PRICES AND GROWING
export opportunities of the 2017/18 crop
year demonstrated that there is excellent
potential for feed barley growers this
season. Feed wheat also saw an increase,
and the price spread between the two
narrowed, holding feed barley steady and
preventing its escalation.
Early 2018 grain pricing saw feed barley
in Alberta at $220 to $225 per tonne, up
from $136 in January 2017. Feed wheat
was up to between $219 and $225 per
tonne from approximately $153 the previ-
ous year.
Influencing factors such as the improved
yield of the 2017 harvest over the previous
year, increasing demand through export
markets, availability of both feed wheat and
U.S. corn and the lower Canadian dollar
have resulted in the price of feed barley
rising closer to that of malt barley.
Alberta Barley director Jeff Nielsen
said feed barley prices at the end of 2017
had risen at least a dollar per bushel since
the previous spring, due in large part to
the high volume of wheat in the previous
year’s system as well as a large amount
of Fusarium head blight/DON-affected
grains moving from Saskatchewan into
Alberta as feed.
“In Alberta, we had a lot of feed-quality
grains as well due to the wet harvest in
2016. This year, we saw a lot better qual-
ity wheat and it’s going into the export
marketplace. It’s brought the price of both
feed barley and wheat up,” he said. He
added that barley growers produced a bet-
ter crop in 2017 despite acres being a little
below average, resulting in the diminished
availability of feed-quality barley, which
also acted to drive prices up.
While domestic maltsters were over-
supplied for the 2017/18 crop year, the
better-quality malting barley produced in
2017 spurred increased exports, par-
ticularly to China, as poor weather in
Australia produced a below-average malt
barley crop. “Because of this, the Chinese
are looking at us for more malting barley,
and our exports to China are up $1.2 mil-
lion,” Nielsen said. “They’re also taking
more feed barley this year, which ups our
domestic price.”
Striking a trade agreement with China
could open major opportunities for west-
ern Canadian ag sectors. Wrapping up
major ongoing international trade negoti-
ations would also increase opportunity for
Canada’s livestock sector and thus boost
demand for feed grain.
The lower Canadian dollar has also
supported export opportunities for Cana-
dian ag, including in the livestock sector.
Photo:AlbertaBeefProducers
Improved feed-grain prices were spurred by factors such as the high quality of the 2017 Alberta wheat and barley crops, and industry experts predict the feed-grain market will
remain stable throughout 2018.