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SHESAID, THREESAID
BY SARAH WEIGUM
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Brian Ellis
Olds, AB
We signed contracts for our malt barley
in the spring with Rahr Malting. They
are all covered by an Act of God clause so
we’re not afraid to sign up a lot of bushels
because if it doesn’t pan out it’s no loss.
We haven’t priced canola, but there was
positive basis locally so we locked some basis
in for November. We signed some futures
contracts in the spring for wheat and we ha-
ven’t priced any more since. We grow some
pedigreed seed so we’re limited in terms of
delivery and basis contracts. We use futures
options and put options instead of delivery
options so we don’t have delivery risk.
We chat with brokers every couple of
weeks and the grapevine in the local eleva-
tors is good to keep you plugged in. Given
the recent market downturn, maybe we
should’ve been a touch more aggressive on
early marketing. We put up some more stor-
age this year so that o ers us some flexibility
when carrying crop over.
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In July,
GrainsWest
talked to farmers about their marketing endeavours in the first half
of 2014 and their plans for the rest of the new crop.
Three Hills-area farmer and writer SarahWeigum asked three Alberta farmers:
How do you plan tomarket your grain this year?
Dave Bishop
Barons, AB
I start pricing grain when I start seeing
a profit. I do my own figures on what I
spend on fertilizer, chemical, seed and
some of the capital costs. I’m not very
optimistic right now. Everything’s been
going the wrong direction. My guess is
in six months the markets will be in the
same place as they are now. If anything,
they’ll be a little down.
I’ve priced quite a bit of peas and I'll try to
average $6.50 per bushel. I’ve priced about
10 per cent of my wheat and 10 per cent of
my canola, but I’mworried about the canola
market. I usually hang on to my barley and
go into the local feed market with it. Quite
often over the holidays, or if the weather
gets bad, you can get a premium for it.
I have some wheat and feed barley
left over from last year. We’re lucky here
because we’re a shorter turnaround for cars
to go to the coast, so we’ve had a lot more
movement than other areas.
Ray Blanchette
Falher, AB
I have 400 tonnes of wheat sold for
September and I’m confident that wheat
will go o the combine. I regularly talk to
the elevator, and lately rail cars have been
moving again. I have about 100 tonnes of
commercial canola sold, but my Nexera
canola is not priced yet.
In the past, I’ve usually sold about half of
my anticipated crop in the preceding Janu-
ary to March. With the Nexera, it can be up
to 30 bu/ac, because you have 20 that you
have to supply and then another 10 under an
Act of God clause. The rest is sold in rallies.
I get updates from Viterra and Richardson.
The Alberta Canola Producers Commission
website is good for canola and wheat. If I
like the price I might sell 20 to 25 per cent,
and then set targets for the rest of it to head
towards 50 per cent of the crop. You have
to keep your ears open for opportunities as
they arise. It’s such a global economy, there’s
always a possibility of a rally.
Fall
2014
grainswest.com
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