Is Canadian spring wheat still King?

[craig]

Since we started farming we have been consistently told how Western Canadian spring wheat is the best quality in the world and therefore positions us as farmers to receive premiums for our wheat. Our whole industry has been built around this premise but like many things, I seriously question whether our premium wheats hold the same value they once did. A recent comment by Greg Arason states that it is extremely important to protect Hard Red Spring Wheat because it still provides the best returns to producers. Whether you believe that is up for debate but it is easy to discredit such a broad based statement. As the KVD removal issue moves to the forefront there are a number of questions that need to be asked. What percentage of the market do we sell in that in fact pays a premium for our wheat? Is this premium based on quality or consistency. What impact does a higher priced market have on premiums? What yield penalty do we pay for producing high protein wheat? I am currently looking at my historic crop yields and trying to compare gross returns based on today's price spreads. While I have yet to confirm I would suggest that for many producers HRS wheat is no longer king. If that is the case then we need to take a serious look at what it is costing producers to protect HRS wheat. Will let you know what I find when I get my numbers.

[furrowtickler]

hrsw has been the "joker" on our farm for many years. We produce 40bus/ac quite often and hrsw still "nets" us less than almost every other crop we grow. In the 20 years I have been farming I have yet to see any so called premium. To me a premium means getting more than the average selling price for a product, somebody show me this premium?

[epgrower]

it must be a single desk monopoly thing because we get told australian white wheat is the best in the world at the end of the day wheat is wheat and you have to grow the best yielder and meet the minimum specs. we lost a lot of money listening to the awb on quality issues

[Riley]

HRS wheat has been the worst paying crop on our farm for years. In fact we stopped growing it years ago. As far as wheat goes,CPS and now HRW wheat provide a much better return without the risk of downgrading due to frost, etc.

[btjadenlepp]

I'd love to talk to Arason about wheat's ranking in terms of profitabiliyt on Prairie farms. In my experience it usually ranks around number 13 on the list of possibilities, even at $5-6/bu and we all know how often those prices come along.