Grain Today - June 2022

​Good Afternoon,

As I write this newsletter, wheat makers on the CBT are up anywhere from $0.50/bushel for winter wheats to $0.35/bus for HRS wheat. Two years ago, this would have been a major move. This year it is just another normal trading day. These dramatic swings are reflecting the instability in all markets from commodities to the stock market. No one knows what will happen over the next 3 months let alone over the next 12 months. This makes marketing extremely hard. We have never seen such indecision in our producers when it comes to pulling the trigger. Viewing it from our desks, it is an interesting trip. Producers do need to remember that when you seeded the crop you are selling you never expected to get offered $16 for milling wheat and $15.25 for feed wheat. It’s best to keep in mind what goes up will always come down.

In the feed market we have seen some noticeable softening of barley prices in the last few trading days. This is being driven by rain in Alberta. Anywhere from 0.5 inches to 2 inches. This came in a very timely fashion as it will ensure even germination and keep crops moving ahead. Will we claw the losses back over the next 6 weeks? Hard to say as every week is that much closer to new crop. And it is getting seeded. Even the real wet areas in eastern SK and MB have made great progress in the last 5 days. It’s amazing what can get seeded when the push is on. Feed wheat is still holding on but not as strong as before. The feeding industry will need the packers to pay more, or they will drown in red ink if feed prices don’t come down.

We still have some interest in new crop feed grain, peas and flax if you are interested.

Just a couple of things that have come up in the last month I would like to address. Firstly, when you are shipping grain off farm take a minute and climb up and check the hoppers to make sure they are clean. A bit of fertilizer left in the truck because the driver couldn’t be bothered doing a proper cleanout is going to be very expensive for you. Rejected load, downgraded grain, lawsuits maybe. These could be all avoided by taking a quick peak. If you are sending $24,000 dollars off farm, wouldn’t you want to be sure it got where it’s going in marketable condition.

Second: If you are selling milling oats make sure that you get them graded with grams/.5liter test weight, moisture and % thins. These are all important but the thins can really bite you. Some buyers treat any thins over 6% as dockage while others are okay up to 10%. Just because your oats weight 248g/.5l don’t assume that the thins are low. We had a sample this year that was 250g/.5l with 12% thins. Since the producer never mentioned the high thin % it was a big surprise when the dockage was very high. Not good for anyone.

Third: I think I mentioned this before but more and more of our buyers are offering E-Transfer. We are really promoting this as Canada post is not making a good job of getting your money to you. Our buyers will put the money in your account, send you a notification of this happening by email or TX and also send you a statement of your unloads. Something to consider.

That’s it for this month. As always, give us a call if you have grain to market. We can kick tires much more effectively that you can as we work closely with 45 different buyers. Even at 5 minutes a call that will take you a while. And if you get offers of "great" deal from one of your local buyers just send us a Tx and we will let you know if it is or is not.

Till next month.



Richard Chambers
Marketer - Brandon, MB
204-729-1354 - Office
204-761-8320 - Cell
[email protected]