Canola specialty Oils

[TOM4CWB]

Charlie and Lee;

I was talking to a marketer today of specialty oil... the offer for 2003:

$10/bu for all production, no matter the yield... or $65/t over Nov 03 futures...


Now Thalpenny, why has the CWB not come out with a program like this for specialty wheats... if the CWB is the best at extracting a premium from the market place?

[countryguy]

Tom,in my experience these premiums are nothing to get excited about because these specialty varieties just don't
seem to yield as good as normal canola.

Our specialty canola this year yielded 15 bushels per acre less than our other canola,seeded same time,same everything.With these prices that it quite a dollar difference per acre.

Just reporting the results on our farm. Maybe other people have better results/luck with the stuff.

[countryguy]

Tom4cwb: Halpenny quit us remember. He has moved high up into the dictorship of the CWB and doesn't have to answer to the peasants anymore.

I have a real life problem with marketing my wheat this year Tom. Here goes: I have a friend in the bakery business and this year he likes the quality of my wheat #1 CWRS 15.5 protein. He would like to use flour from my grain without having to except a blend of many wheats from the CWB.

So I found a flour mill that would grind my wheat to suit my customer for a custom price. The floor mill stated that I had better get permission from the CWB before we proceed. I have been waiting for a month for an answer from the board.

I could make over $12.00 a bus. if I can swing the deal.

My chances are not looking good.

Funny thing about this deal three peoples rights are being denied so far because of what. I wish all farmers would think of what they are missing when their freedoms are removed not by the law but by the policies of the CWB and the government.

[TOM4CWB]

Countryguy:

We grew the Millenium 03 variety last year, and it yielded within 10% of all the other fancy hybred GMO Canolas.

It was faster maturing, and was easy to harvest.

Now there are special delivery requirements, but $7.50/bu advance is avaliable once it is harvested... talk to CanAmera if you have some clean land that can grow it.

The point however, was that the CWB SAYS the monopoly single desk extracts a premium, and that we should be happy with their marketing performance over the past four years.

Thalpenny has pointed at Canola marketers as poor cousins to the CWB marketing system... and I do not buy this for a second.

I have neighbours who had unpriced CWB basis contracts last year... who are being charged over $20/t liquidation charges...

On our farms Canola Basis, we have never been charged liquiation charges... and even this year there was no problem with any of the marketers... on presold Canola everyone has been exceptionally understanding and caring about how we are treated when short of seed to fill these contracts... I could not ask for more.

WHY have these marketers done this?

1. These folks all have competition, and know for us to continue to grow Canola for them, we must financially survive.

2. These folks want us to grow for them next year... and offer decent marketing programs to control risk while returning a reasonable amount per acre to our farms.

Kernel;

The CWB had better wake up and smell the coffee, you own this wheat and you have the right to sell it to whom ever you please... do not give up... talk to your MP, get this person to question Minister Goodale in question period. What position has Thalpenny moved up to in the CWB?

[charliep]

Has anyone considered or been approached to grow conventional (read non GMO) canola as a specialy crop? I realize some fo the special property canolas are non GMO.

This would require keeping this crop segregated through the elevator system.

It is happening in the organic canola.

Is it something that should be pursued?

[Braveheart]

Charlie, at least one grain company has offered a premium for segregated non GMO canola for a couple of years.

The latest bids in Manitoba have been at $1 under June futures (April delivery). This is not bad considering that Manitoba canola basis levels are considerably weaker than our friends to the west.

We have been growing non GMO (non specialty) canolas for the past 2 years to capture some of this demand. But the problem we are running into is a changing weed spectrum. There are some weeds like wild buckwheat and lambs quarters that increase in number as there are no herbicides that work well on these weeds in conventional canola production.

Regards,

Braveheart

[TOM4CWB]

Braveheart;

Long time... good to see you back on line!

Have you tried Lontrel to spruce up Muster for Buckwheat control?

We even find this works well with clearfield Canola, which is non-GMO as well... a little refine with muster and lontrel.

Hope your year went better than it did here in Alberta!

[parsley]

charliep,

$20.00 to $30.00/bushel canola markets have simply disappeared because foreign buyers shy away from buying Canadian canola because of field contamination by GM canola.



Parsley

[charliep]

Parsley

What certication is required to document that a crop is GMO free? Are there risk tolerances? Do the same criteria apply to processed product - eg. crush here and ship oil?

An interesting side issue is the Starlink issue in US corn. All shipments to Canada are required to have a certificate accompany them indicating free of Starlink. CFIA/CGC do spot test (a source of risk/controversy). If it is found to have Starlink, it is sent home at seller expense.

A interesting note is that lots of things have zero tolerance and I often wonder what a definition of this is? Picking on canola - 1 %, one kernel in 10 mln, 1 kernel in a ship load, etc.?

[parsley]

The buyer is always right, charliep. He wants GM free canola, and if he doesn't get it..bingo, the load goes back at the seller's expense. Too many canola loads had high levels of contaminated grain, so Prairie canola is undesirable.

Producers do not know what they have until it is tested, and that is unknown until after it is grown. No sense growing a crop that might be highly devalued in the marketplace, is there?

This isn't like ergot that you can clean out, charliep. This is permanent contamination for whose cost the farmer gets saddled with. If GM grain is about patented ownership, contamination must be part of that responsibility, along with the privilege that comes with ownership.

Parsley

[charliep]

I agree with your comment on customer demand. To date, this has not impacted the market for canola at the commodity level (with the exception of Europe but they for the most part are canola surplus/competitors).

Hard to hit a zero tolerance on GM canola when the genie is out of the bottle. The indication was that Argentine canola were closed polinators and wouldn't spread with polen. The issue is with 1% outcrossing, that still makes a lot of seed. Perhaps an issue that will have to come about over time is to think of community crop rotations rather than just individual farm ones.

Looking at different ways of meeting customer needs, to the new mustards with canola properties have potential to meet these customer needs. My understanding is that mustards do not outcross with either argentine or polish canola. Along a similar line, it there opportunity to spend more effort on marketing solins/linola (edible oil flaxseed) into these markets (no GM varieties).

An interesting article I found on the mustards with canola properties is at (a little old information).

http://www.aginfonet.com/aglibrary/content/feed_news/news_winter98_canola.html

Has anyone seen these mustards in trials? I heard the variety name arid plus one other. No seed given this last years lousy summer

[charliep]

Should have done more research. Variety I meant is likely Alba and a few years away. Sask. Ag. has a discussion in a newsletter.

http://www.agr.gov.sk.ca/docs/reports/f_f_report/ffr0229.asp