Durum Non Prevharvest Premium

[jazz]

Hauling some lentils in today. AGT foods, they handle 90% pulses. But noticed them loading durum on some side bin. Asked about it.

Special program. 25-50c premium offered on durum untreated with pre harvest glyphosate.

First I have ever heard of such a program. Start of a trend?

Some psuedo organic pasta noodle market somewhere? Interesting anyway.

But is that enough of a premium for guys to get the swather out again?

[helmsdale]

Have never treated durum with pre-harvest glyphosate... Only once ever done cereals of any sort in 2015 when I had ~50% emergence, and the second stuff didn't come till mid july. I blew it out when it was in the flowering stage on the 20th of september and the first stuff that came up was ready to combine.

[Klause]

Hauling some lentils in today. AGT foods, they handle 90% pulses. But noticed them loading durum on some side bin. Asked about it.

Special program. 25-50c premium offered on durum untreated with pre harvest glyphosate.

First I have ever heard of such a program. Start of a trend?

Some psuedo organic pasta noodle market somewhere? Interesting anyway.

But is that enough of a premium for guys to get the swather out again?

Italy.


They won't take glyphosate treated durum.

[Sheepwheat]

Several oat buyers do this with oats. Some won’t even take preharvest oats.

Gotta be ready as farmers. I think wholesale change is coming. Talk to almost anyone on the street. They do not like seeing sprayers in the fields when grain is ripening. I have had many interesting conversations in small town farm country, let alone what they must think in the cities.

Right or wrong? Depends what you think of the old adage about consumers.

[jazz]

Italy.


They won't take glyphosate treated durum.

Here I have been giving away my swathed durum to RP all these yrs and had no idea a premium market even existed.

Hardly anybody swaths here any more.

Wonder if reglone will be next.

[ajl]

Hear of this a lot with oats. Pretty much all wheat here is roundup readied. I have some that needed pre harvest and another field that I did not pre harvest. With 2 feet of rain and the resulting flooding, you get some late flush regrowth all the time and pre harvest is necessary otherwise farming would likely be not viable in the northwest. If there is plenty, then you will hear a lot about this and when food is short, nothing.

[fjlip]

Or straight cut/swath when close to dry and use the dryer. Works for us. Field virtually weed free so no benefit from pre harvest this year.

[beaverdam]

jazz, nice heads-up,,, thanks for posting about this.
Straight cut all durum this year at 13.5, no weeds, no glyphosate necessary.

re Italy, I don't think are typically buyers of N.American durum, unless very, very short.

[jazz]

re Italy, I don't think are typically buyers of N.American durum, unless very, very short.

Wondering that too. Thought most of our durum was going to N africa and not much sales to Europe because there are some COOL issues or something.

There should be a market for something like this but I can see the downside of trying to educate consumers about it. Would just raise alarm bells in the general public. A class of commodities called low chem would probably just morph into demands for no chem, same price.

[Quadtrack]

I believe it is short sighted to participate in such a market offering for so little premium. When the practice is eliminated, the premium also evaporates and farmers are left with more risk and higher cost. Look at oats as a case study-started with one company banning the practice but offered a premium, then more companies followed, now virtually all will not accept gly on oats. And RP went further to include no pre harvest application of any kind. Swathing was essentially banned some time ago-mildew and deer shit-unless you happen to get Uber lucky prob 1 year in 10. Also oats, standard is 34 lbs/bu, mills for a long time wanted 40 min, now its 42.5. And where is the premium? This year they might have to stoop to 40 again cause a lot of light oats out there. Regardless, the pattern of higher demands for no reward is well established
Very little durum is pre-harvested. Grown in regions that typically are too dry for Canada thistle to thrive. More common on spring wheat in moist areas. Maybe too routine but if done at proper stage, there is no residue til you get to parts per billion-that is fact. Some go too early which is where the problems arise.

One pulse processor has banned both glyphosate and Diquat on peas. Again, if the stars all line up, some years it can work. Lots of years in moist areas it will not
AGT, the ones capitalizing on gulability, is not trustworthy. Last year B f harvest issued a statement no pulses treated w glyphosate would be accepted. After harvest, no mention of it. Just sell them peas or lentils however produced cause they needed product to handle or Viterra would get them all.

I don’t know where this all heads but if we willing let tools be stripped away, for ‘marketing’ reasons, we will be left with more risk and higher costs. There is no way this stops at just pre-harvest application-it’s the tip of the iceberg
Ensuring we do things right (rate, timing) is our part. Regulators need to regulate on sound science not what the EWG can dream up. And we need to research alternate and better ways-a swather is opposite of new tech-we know how that goes when it rains all of September, or when a 70k wind hits lentil swaths

In the interim, I am very wary of the tiny premium for a flimsy reason.