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Good Day,
This is the start of a new year. And my first newsletter of 2026. I always appreciate it when someone takes the time to comment on our newsletter. It lets us know that people are reading it - even if they don’t always agree with what they read. We have had a very interesting year last year with all the unpredictable changes that have happened both within our country and globally. Unfortunately many of them have had negative impacts on how the year turned out. Lets all hope that saner heads prevail and 2026 moves forward with less turmoil. I would like to mention, AGAIN, a practice that I would hope everyone does when you ship grain with on farm pick-up. That is that you keep good samples from every load that leaves the farm. If there is an issue then you can compare load samples with what the unload specs are. This way your broker at Quality Grain has something to work with. It is very hard to get a buyer to change their mind about discounts if we have nothing more to go on than “I know that all the grain we shipped was the same”. It works much better when you can say “I took the sample from load # 1234 to my local elevator and they came up with this”. Then we can get involved and hopefully negotiate the proper price for your grain. Thought for the month. I was wrong. I do have one more thing that should be mentioned. Please check your bins. We have seen enough heated canola already this year. The cables you put in your bin help, but they are not perfect. An actual peek in the bin can be a real money saver. Crusted peas when pulled through 8000 bushels of #2 yellows can become 8000 bushels of feed peas in a hurry. Don’t wait for the snow to slide off the roof on the north side of the bin to find that issue. So far this winter in MB has been slightly warmer than normal with more snow than we have seen for some time. The snow will likely be a good thing by the end of the growing season as lately there seems to be a shortage of moisture. One of the questions we have been getting from more than one producer in 2026 is “What should we grow?” This is always a big decision. Most producers are going to stay fairly close to their rotations. We did see issues with canola in western MB with soil borne fungus from tight rotations that turned fields that looked like 60 bushels into fields that struggled to make 40. I realize that economics plays a big part of what your rotation is but. Canola-snow- canola isn’t a long term sustainable rotation. On the topic of what to seed this spring we will hopefully be getting some guidance when the crop production days happen across the prairies this month. I know that the buyers generally have specials on at that time and these will set the tone for any new crop pricing. We haven’t had much luck with new crop bids, yet, but it is just the first week of January. If you would like us to do some digging just send a text, call or email your broker and we will see what we can find. If we do find some hot prices we will be sure to share them with producers who have shown interest in that commodity. Here are some prices we have been seeing picked up Brandon MB area: Barley - $4.65/bus Corn - $5.15/bus Feed Wheat - $5.95/bus Soybeans - $12.20/bus Yellow Peas - $7.15/bus Rye - $4.90/bus 2 CW Oats - $3.25/bus Feed Oats - $2.25/bus We have not been seeing much for price carry/increasing for Spring/Summer movement at this point. Until next month, Richard Chambers Marketer - Brandon, MB 204-729-1354 - Office 204-761-8320 - Cell [email protected]
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Good Day,
I hope you had a successful harvest this year, from what we have been seeing and hearing most areas had above average yields. That is excellent news, however, the markets are pricing in the extra bushels this year with pricing that is below producer expectations and unfortunately we really don’t have much good news to share on the pricing front. November is here. No snow in SW MB so far which is very good. We haven’t had very much sunshine but also not a hard frost which is unusual for Nov 6th. It has been a trying harvest this year in most areas in MB. I was talking to one of the producers I work with and he said that he was as long harvesting as it took the crop to get to harvest. Generally from conversations with our producers all across the prairie provinces there has been a good crop grown, some quality issues caused by that 10 days to 2 weeks where it either rained or had very heavy dews and the temperature was in the mid teens - even at night. I have been involved with grain farming for 50 years now and I have never seen sprouting/chitting so widespread in all crops as I have this year. That being said the line companies have had some decent programs to deal with some of the out of spec grain. Luckily most of the grain ended up dry so we might escape the other surprises as winter moves along. We have had very disappointed producers in regards to feed grain prices. Barley is down at least $1 from last year. Nov 1st 2025 we are seeing $4.25 barley where Nov 1st 2024 we were seeing 5.25. Feed wheat is similar with Nov 2025 at $5.75 and Nov 2024 was at $7.00. Sprouted oats are starting to become a problem to move at decent price levels. At the start of harvest $3/bus was possible, but as the sprouted bushels increased the price has dropped below $2.25. Milling oats are in the $3.25-$3.50 range picked up in the yard. These prices have been driven by world markets to some degree, but a big part of our low prices is just over supply. Big wheat crops and 100s of thousands of bushels downgraded to feed because of sprouting, barley with 10% better yields than normal but a significant % of the crop struggling with chitting. Big oat crops but more feed (sprouts) oats than I have ever seen. And to top it off, higher corn acres than ever with 1 of those acres growing 20 bushels more than the grower ever imagined. As I have said more than once this year, there are much bigger problems than not enough space to store your crop. This will keep pressure on, especially, feed grain prices well into the new year. On another unpleasant topic - yellow peas. India announced a 30% tariff that’ll likely trim another 15% off of your bottom line for the year. Now that the surprise has faded from the market we are seeing a bit of a recovery. It is still very hard to get anywhere near $7.00 picked up for glyphos free yellows for Nov/Dec shipping. We do currently have buyers looking for Yellow Peas, price is $6.75/bus picked up for Dec/Jan movement (price subject to change based on location). If you are looking to get some peas moved before the new year best give one of us a call as soon as you can. On a more serious note when it comes to marketing your grain we have no problem kicking tires for you. We are good at it. We talk to between 20 and 30 different buyers depending on the grain you are selling. We do have a favor to ask of you. When we get prices for you, could you give the options some serious thought and then give us an indication of what would buy some of your grain. We like to hear your price targets as they help us do our job and open up productive discussion with our buyers. We very seldom push you to sell it all. But if your only response to our prices is that’s not enough, what good did that do? Give us a target/offer/indication please. Then we have something to take back to the buyer. Maybe they can sharpen their pencil and meet your indication. Maybe their counter will be close enough that you can live with it but at least then everyone knows what values are. If you are too shy to tell us your price targets we have a handy form on our website (follow the link) where you can enter your details and put in your price target that way. In Manitoba we are currently looking for 20,000 bushels of good feed wheat. In western MB for Nov and 20,000 bushels of good clean 55lb, dry corn in eastern MB. Let us know if you have some that you might be interested in selling. Before we go here are some prices we have been seeing in Alberta Barley is $5.40 delivered feedlots Feed Wheat is $6.70/bus delivered Rye is $4.85/bus picked up If you are between Lethbridge and Red Deer within 100KM of Hwy 2 with some good CWRS (13.0-15.0 protein) let us know and we can arrange getting samples from you. We have buyers for milling wheat but need to see a sample before we can price it out for you. That is all for this month. If you are looking to move any grain before Christmas give one of us a call and we will let you know what we can do. Until next month, Richard Chambers Marketer - Brandon, MB 204-729-1354 - Office 204-761-8320 - Cell [email protected] Good Day,
It’s October already. That means winter is just around the corner. Let's hope that we still have 6-8 weeks before the white stuff comes. Snow seemed to be more fun when I was 6 than it is now. September was a difficult month for harvest across most of the Prairies. Here in Brandon we had 12 days of either fog, drizzle or such heavy dews that it ran off the roof until 9 in the morning. As you might guess, most of the cereals that were still in the field sprouted. We have sprouted rye, oats, wheat and canola. Luckily the line companies are dealing with the canola, so far, which is good. The cereal grains are not so fortunate. When we first started to see sprouted wheat the feed wheat market was $6.25 for Oct/Nov movement. Now we are $5.00 for Oct movement. There are still opportunities for $6 plus if you can hold till March/April. If you have the misfortune of having sprouted feed wheat, you need to remember that there is a lot of feed grain available in western Canada. It might be a good idea to price a significant percent of your feed wheat even if it is for further out. There really is no reason for prices to improve much during the winter. Feed rye is still trading at decent values, but the nearby delivery opportunities are full unless you want to virtually give it away. We could get you $4.50 for January pick-up for feed rye and milling rye is priced 10-20 cents more. Feed oats are in a surplus situation too. I am sorry that I have no good news for you this month. If you have any feed grains that have issues let one of our brokers know so when an opportunity comes along we know who to call. This seems like a year where a marketing plan will likely pay dividends. The best way to let us help you with that plan is to get accurate specs like moisture, protein, grade and share that with your broker. We will see short term opportunities to trade grain at better than market prices. If we know what you have then you can guess who gets the first call. With supplies of feed grains being excessive the buyer will likely not want to be long and they will not be too willing to give the producer a break if out of spec grain is shipped. The buyer does have the hammer if this happens. Be sure your grain is what you are selling. If not you will be the loser in the deal. Good brokers like Quality Grain can help sort out issues but are not miracle workers. We have buyers looking for flax, both 1 CAN and lower grades. From my travels in MB and Eastern SK I think that flax acres are down this year but crops look good. I haven’t talked to anyone with flax harvested yet but some has been done. The feedlots around Lethbridge are bidding $5.50/bus delivered on Barley for Oct/Nov/Dec movement. They have not provided much of a carry/premium for Jan/Feb/Mar movement. I get the sense they are still penciling out whether they will be using Canadian Barley or USA Corn this winter. Hopefully the majority stick with barley, but at the end of the day they will choose the best price. Feed Wheat is 6.75/bus delivered. The Yellow Pea market is still ice cold and bids are sub $7.00/bus picked up. In Southern Alberta we have seen ergot rear its ugly head in the wheat crops. This brings us back to the earlier point of knowing what you have. Most feeders won’t accept over 0.05% ergot. We have milling wheat options on CWRS that is a max 0.04% ergot spec. If you live between Red Deer and Lethbridge between highway 2 and highway 23 let us know what you have for CWRS. We will arrange to collect samples. If your samples are approved we will be able to market your wheat into the Milling market which will be competitive or better than your local line company, picked up at the bin. If you have any price targets please be sure to follow this link (Price Targets) and let us know what you are looking for price wise. If you have the time we would really appreciate feedback on yields from all areas of the prairies. We don’t share your info with Stats Can or your banker. This just gives us a better sense of the size of crop. Often it seems we only hear the truly big or very small numbers. General feedback so far has been that most areas are having above average yields on most commodities. Until next month, Richard Chambers Marketer - Brandon, MB 204-729-1354 - Office 204-761-8320 - Cell [email protected] Fall isn’t here officially until Sept 20, but here in Brandon it feels like we are full on into fall. Trees are starting to turn. The lows of the last 2 nights have been under 5C and the combines are running hard.
Here in SW Manitoba we have been very fortunate with moisture this year and the crops are very good on average. July and August seemed to be drier than normal. The bushel grain monitors on the combines aren’t reflecting that. We are seeing Barley at 100 bushels, Rye between 80 (OP) and 120 (hybrid), HRS wheat 70 to 80, CPS wheats pushing 100. Yellow peas 60-70. Oats 120 -160. I was talking to a producer in the Arborg MB area and they had 0.5 inches of rain between seeding and July 1. His wheat is running 65 bushels. All this shows is todays producers can grow an amazing amount of grain on very little moisture compared to 40 years ago. Unfortunately, these big numbers lead into two problems. One of the big problems we are having right now is it’s a struggle to find decent bids for just about all commodities. Keep in mind that these are MB bids that I will be discussing. Reed will be adding in some AB numbers at the end. Feed barley if you need it moved in Sept -sub $4.00, $4.20 for Oct/Nov Feed wheat -$6.30 to $6.40 Yellow peas -$6.00 Rye (low falling number) $4.00 move in Dec/Jan. 180 FN ob $4.20 Oct-Dec Oats – Milling $4.00 Eastern Mb, $3.80 western MB Oats feed - $3.00 Sept/Oct This brings us to the second of the big problems. If you need to move some feed grains for bin space and cash flow it is likely a good idea to start looking sooner than later. Available delivery windows will fill up quickly and this will depress prices even further. Everything we hear is about the big corn crop in the US. This is really pressuring prices in the feed complex. As of right now we are going to have a big corn crop in MB. Acres are up here in western MB and I would say similar in the east. At least we will be able to feed Canadian corn instead of importing as much from the US. But prices will still suffer, as feeders will not hesitate to switch to US origin for a better price. Just a little something I ran into again this year. The old winter triticale variety Fridge appears to have been around for so long and common seed has been cleaned and reseeded so often that it is reverting back to one of its parents - fall rye. We have had 2 lots of Fridge triticale, grown from common seed that when tested for purity failed badly. Now its just poor quality rye. This is one reason you do need to refresh your seed to make use of current genetics and not have marketing issues as well. I know there is very little triticale grown but I just thought this was of interest. This is the first time in the 18 years I have been brokering grain that we are struggling to get bids on yellow peas from Eastern SK an MB. We keep hearing the same story. Processors in the US have sufficient local production and aren’t sure when they will come to the table with half way decent bids. This is why I’m showing $6.00 for yellow peas. Unfortunately, unless there is a significant off shore demand for peas the markets aren’t likely to improve much in the next few months. Both canola and pulses are being hurt with Chinese tariffs. Pricing in Alberta is not a lot rosier compared to MB. Prices into Lethbridge: Feed barley – 5.55/bus Oct, 5.75.bus Nov/Dec (delivered) Feed wheat - $6.50/bus Sept/Oct Yellow peas - $6.50/bus Feed Oats $3.50/bus Sept/Oct Rye – $5.00/bus Sept/Oct 2024 crop CWRS 13.5-14.0 protein $7.75/bus (picked up southern Alberta closer to highway 2 is best) - not taking 2025 crop yet - subject to sample approval As always we are happy to help with price discovery. September movement, across the board, is filling up fast and many buyers are looking into October or later. Don’t hesitate to give us a call or text and we will let you know what we can do. At minimum we ask for you to give us a call before selling to your local elevator if you need something moved quickly. Until next month, have a safe harvest! Richard Chambers Marketer - Brandon, MB 204-729-1354 - Office 204-761-8320 - Cell [email protected] Good Day,
August is here!!! What happened to July? I know it has seemed like a short month around here. I hope everyone has been able to grab a few days with their families and enjoy the sunshine and beaches. Here in Manitoba we have had a pretty good summer so far. There are pockets that are too dry but I would say the majority of crop land has seen enough rain to grow a passable crop. It has been very smoky from the forest fires. The smoke has kept the temperatures from climbing as high as they might have. The last time it was this smoky the crops were pretty decent in MB so let's hope for a rerun. The feed grain markets seem to be struggling with a predicted big corn crop in the US. Even here in MB the corn looks good. We have seen cash barley fall from $5.75 at the high down to $4.75 that it is as I write this. Feed wheat has dropped below $6.75, and cash corn has dropped from $6.50 to $5.45 at present. It is hard to get a bid on good milling oats. All the mills are covered in the nearby with a significant portion of the Sept to Dec demand bought up. It looks like there is going to be a good crop in southern AB. This means that the feedlots are not looking for coverage for Aug-Oct. They know there will be opportunities to buy from producers right off the combine. We are seeing delivered bids of $5.95 delivered to Lethbridge for Sept/Oct. When you subtract $1.30/bushel freight (MB to AB) off that it is understandable why bids in the country are down as much as they are. Unfortunately, our dollar gaining 5 cents in the last few months is not helping any of your prices. We have been struggling getting new crop pea bids of late. I think when August 1st goes by there might be more interest. This tariff issue has dragged on way longer than it should. It has caused crazy fluctuations in prices and demand. Buyers are struggling with delivery opportunities which unfortunately are passed on to you. I’m afraid that these issues could start to spread to other commodities if we don’t get agreements in place soon. Rye is another commodity that has been taking it on the chin. Current rye bids are well below $5/bus. We are expecting some more downward pressure nearby just because there is always harvest pressure. Everyone is waiting anxiously to see how yields and quality turn out. If you know you will be running into bin space issues, I’d suggest getting ahead of the ball and marketing some grain sooner as the prices we have today will likely be a lot less in two weeks. As always if you have any grain you are looking to market or think you might have some bin space issues in the next couple weeks, please reach out to one of us and we will do our best to help you find the best price and movement available. Please, when you are showing us grain make sure you have done your homework. Please get test weight, moisture and grade if available. I can tell you from experience that not knowing what is in your bin will cost you. If there is an issue, Quality Grain will do our best to mediate the problem, but the best that we will come up with is both parties unhappy. It is just much better to give us good info at the start. Anyone who isn’t receiving our daily price summary just needs to email [email protected] and he will add you to the list. This will give you what we are being offered to market, what bids we are seeing and also if these prices are trading grain. Good information for a 2 minute read. Just a quick reminder as harvest approaches. Check the boot in your combines and augers to reduce the chance of mixed grain. Keep good representative bin samples with a tight lid please. And most importantly have a safe harvest. Richard Chambers Marketer - Brandon, MB 204-729-1354 - Office 204-761-8320 - Cell [email protected] |
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January 2026
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