Victories and Defeats...

[farmaholic]

Well now that the fat lady has finally finished singing and closed the show on the 2014 crop, for the most part, how did it turn out for you?

Green peas weren't very good here and prepricing last winter at $8.00 left some money on the table. I think there is upside in green pea prices.

Flax was alright here and again I prepriced some last winter at $11.50. Could be some upside in whole seed for human consumption. Might be alot of dark colored, or light weight, flax due to frost.

Durum was a train wreck(no pun intended) here. HIGH fusarium. Protien was 14.5-15.5. Yielded half of what it should have. Bushel weight is right on the mark. Still assessing cleaning for grade improvement but I don't believe in miracles.

Spring wheat faired better but fusarium still to oo high to make the top grades. Good falling numbers, Px- 13.5 -14.5, good test weight. This isnt junk but we know the focus is on its demerits and not it's positive attributes, SURPRISE!!!

Canola was good here. Not for sale until AT LEAST $10.00/ bushel. I can wait and may have to. I have tasted the odd crow in my lifetime though ;-)

Yellow Mustard was good as far as yellow mustard goes. About 1250 lbs./ac. Likely net out better than canola. Cleavers are an issue though. Cleavers have only shown up in the last few years here. Our yellow mustard days are likely over unless Authority gets minor use registration.

No barley, oats, lentils [{:-(}], soybeans this year.

Anyone honest enough to talk about prepricing wheat and delivering off spec. Remember the topic title says "Victories and Defeats". There has to be some good news stories with durum. What about premiums or discounts? I never signed any price contracts for wheats--don't like the fact premiums or discounts are unknown and no Act of God like in some specialty crop contracts. Wheat contracts have some catching up to do.

[HFL]

I Guess most of our crops could go in the victory coloum. Probably more by good luck then good management. Our Durum averaged 55 bushels per acre. We never pre priced a bushel. It's grading a number 2. Now we sold it for 12 bucks. Maybe we should have held on to some or all of it for more but in our marketing days we've held out for pennies more and wound up losing dollars. Durum was grown on chem fallow. Spring Wheat grown on stubble averaged 40. Some a 1 and some a 2. Had 2 loads priced at 5.40, now sold a bit for 6:15. If it gets to 6.25 will sell some more. The defeat here is the wheat acres should have been Durum. Canola grown on chemfallow averaged 48. None pre priced or sold. It hit 9:25 briefly yesterday but we are hanging on. Probably need to sell some soon for bin space. Again, canola acres should have been durum and will be next year. Yellow peas on stubble averaged 37. None pre priced, sold one load for 6:50. Hoping to get 7 or more for the rest. The Durum turned this year from mediocre to pretty darn good. Pretty hard for someone to sell us Canola seed when it's at 9 bucks and durum is at 12. . There. Just put all my cards on the table.

[TOM4CWB]

It was/is a long harvest. The flax grades a good 1. Bales to stack yet.
Happy with marketing and quality.

We are blessed to live in Canada, the most wonderful country in the world.

Still learning about the changes in marketing dynamics... And weather risk management into this risk environment.

Worked out good this year... We need strong marketing partners going forward as volatility grows.

[freewheat]

Not much victory here. A whole lot of defeat. I thought it was better. But it just wasn't there. Too wet. In a position of real financial fear right now actually. It wouldn't hurt to have finished before the snow.

[ado089]

Canola was pretty average, not selling until there is at least a 10 if not 11 in front of it but will likely start doing some basis contracts near year end. Rye was OK I decided to smoke the tillers to save the falling numbers and it worked but I left at least 10 bu in the field. It will sell for 7.25 if CP ever spots me the god damned cars I ordered in march(for March 2014) thanks hunter.

[HFL]

Frustrated this morning. Canola futures going up nicely so our friends at the grain companies widen their basis level to suck up the increase. Wouldn't want a farmer to get to much for his canola.

[bucket]

The OIC has been rescinded to the railways (read : gift) just before winter.

What do think would happen. It's a cash cow and control for the graincos.

[HappyFarmer]

Overall we will turn out really good this year. Spring wheat will average out about 60 bushels, 2/3's of it will be a No.3 and the other 1/3rd a 2 with most of the protein the high 12's, low 13's. Canola shocked the hell out of me at a average of 55 bushels. Good quality and had 40% pre priced at 11.00. Just like many others, there will not be a bushel that leaves the yard until we see 10.00 to 10.50, which i know we will see if most of us can hang on until we get there. The bad was the barley which will only average around 45. Was a tangled mess and never had a chance after the July long rain event. Oats was 80 ish which honestly is kind of average for our farm. I need someone to teach me how to grow oats because no matter what i do i can't break the 100 mark on the good years like this and last year. Overall very happy.