Organic Operations?

[pourfarmer]

Just wondering if there is anyone on here
thats in organic production? If so what
are you thoughts on the current markets?

[hobbyfrmr]

The market is always right. I have seen very high
prices and experienced no bid for 12 months.

I would call Wilbur Ellis Saskatoon office for
pricing on feed grains, wheat barley peas
Grain millers Yorkton for milling oats, barley and
wheat
Can oat Barrhead, Ab for milling oats prices.
Sunrise foods for wheat barley rye oats mustard
peas. I have sold grain to these buyers and I have
been paid in full. If you are new to organic
marketing, I would strongly suggest that you do a
credit check on any buyer you intend to sell grain
to. You can hire this service, last one costed me $
250.00 and it's worth knowing who is a legitimate
buyer. I think FNA has this new service, called
market empower or something like that. USE IT.
I have locked in 2 btrains feed barley for
$6.80/bushel fall delivery I sell feed barley only
because the malt game is the same dog and pony
show as conventional. . I have (begrudgingly)
locked in one btrain milling oats grain millers
$4.25 . All prices FOB farm. These were done
inFebruary to cover my fuel, taxes and land
payments until 2013.
The remainder of new crop production is not
priced. I am not thrilled about the market but it has
recovered from 2 years ago. I think the feed
market will be sound until December. I am your
typical farmer...it's never enough price when you
are selling! I have managed to make black ink
every year and I have no intentions to go back
conventional farming. Organic farming is not for
everybody.

[Burbert]

Quack grass'll get ya eventually! Unless
yeah handpick it, root by root, by root,
and hang the roots on a barbwire fence ta
dry out. Caution though, event the
shadows from the quack roots'll grow!!!!

[groundspeed]

Not knocking the guys who do it properly but the guys around here who are organic are that because they have no credit and cant afford inputs. Quackgrass and dandelion city. Some days the dandilion fuzz is like a snowstorm.

[notaredneck]

hobby have you ever dealt with popular valley organics?

[pourfarmer]

Groundspeed, understand where you're
coming from I have a couple neighbours
who grow 160ac fields of thistle. I
think the guy had oats but it was really
hard to tell what was in it other then Canadian thistle. I try to do everything
I can to keep a field clean, usually
involves a short crop rotation with
summerfallow and green crop plow down.

Hobbyfarmer, i'm thinking the same thing
prices are better right now but not near
where they should be. I priced a couple
loads of wheat at like 14.50 fob farm,
when i said sold the guy told me they
didnt have room or didnt need it etc.
But if I sold it for 9.50 or 10 they
would have room and needed it right
away! I am sick of the games these guys
play, if you have a good quality crop
then your dockage is too high, if you
clean your dockage well then the color
is a bit off or too moisture is .2% too
high, any excuse in the world to save a
buck. A certain flour mill in southern
manitoba will give you a quote at 15bux
for a couple months down the road on 1
sided contract when it comes time to
ship, prices are at 10 and they still
expect you to sell because hey you
signed the contract. Its funny the thing
that is going to drive me outta the
organic world is the marketing, not the
weedy fields or relentless
summerfallowing.

[hobbyfrmr]

Nota redneck, I have not sold to poplar valley
organics. Make sure you do a credit check on new
buyers. MAKE SURE YOU DO A CREDIT
CHECK ON NEW BUYERS. Get the hint?
If buyers do not provide bank references and
trade references within 2 days get skeptical. If
they start talking around that subject, and saying
things like their secretary is on holidays and will
get that to you when she returns, do not sign
anything just find another buyer.
Any buyers I sell to are willing to fax me those
references with minutes of phone call. Any
hesitation , I don't bother with them.
Couple more references
Lackawanna products,, they are in new York
state. I have not dealt with Sask Lackawanna so I
cannot speak about them.
SunOpta treated me well. They are in Minnesota.
Once again, do your diligence, These are buyers
I have sold to over the course of 6 years. Times
change, economies change stay current on credit
checks. $ 250.00 is not much money if you are
selling $40,000.00 loads of flax.

[hobbyfrmr]

Groundspeed, I do not profess to be a wonder
farmer . I am current in all aspects of my farm. My
money is tied up in antique farm equipment,
primitive tillage tools, cash, and farmland.
Im not knocking the conventional guys who are
doing it right but, I really don't give a **** about
what my neighbors are spraying. Dandelions are
a sign of compaction, which comes from minimal
tillage and conventional farmers who are too
ignorant to realize that, and they don't spray for
them. Roll back 10 years ago, and think about
who's fields were full of dandelions first.

[groundspeed]

I said some guys organic farm better than others. What i have seen is a disaster.

[groundspeed]

If dandilions are from compaction how come the organic guys here are tilling but are still polluted. I have very few on my farm and i am minimum till.

[Partners]

We farm along side an organic farmer, and his crops are poor at best..mostly weeds..and they blow our way all the time..So that field of ours requires more expensive chemicals as a result..

[wd9]

Dandelions a sign of compaction?

Never heard that one before!

[Choice2U]

If so, I would think the dandelion problem would be worse on headlands and where one enters fields but I have never seen that....an old wives tale, me thinks.

[hobbyfrmr]

I stand corrected. Compacted soil is only one
symptom.
http://nwfarmsandfood.com/index.php/what-
weeds-can-tell-about-the-soil.
Groundspeed, I said some conventional guys
farm better than others. Good chance you spray
the right product. There was a time in my area the
no till fields were full of dandelions, now it is
convenient to blame the organic farmers. I find
that childish. It's unusual that, when the organic
farmers inmy area grow 125 bu/acre oats and 80
bushels/ acre barley, and pays cash for
everything they buy, nobody talks about that.
That's fine, I really don't care, I have respectable
neighbors and i am lucky that way. Ultimately
everyone is trying their best to make their living
farming. The original,post was about marketing, I
thought i would help with some marketing
information. I thought it was good advice for both
organic and conventional farmers. Take it or leave
it,.

[hobbyfrmr]

Pour farmer I have always found hrsw difficult to
sell for the reasons you describe. Then there is
the protein, dockage, falling number issue. I have
learned that the highest price is not the best price.
I have started growing soft white,. US millers find
it appealing and might sell for,premium. I am a fan
of higher yielding and sell into the feed market. If
it makes black ink I sell it. I also like to deliver it
instead of waiting months on end for elevator
space or some buyers whim I have been lucky
with feed wheat, feed peas, feed barley. It's not
much different than conventional farming, it's
about cash flow and profit margins.
If you have the ability to load rail cars, i would call
Scoular company in Nebraska. You order the
producer cars through the CGC. Do not let any
buyers order rail cars for you, you will wait for
months. Do it yourself. That's the fun/challenges
of organic farming. Do credit checks, and order
your own rail cars. Look after your business.
That's what any other company would do. Auto
garages, trucking companies, clothing stores,
hardware stores all use a method measuring
credit risk