Organic grain prices need to start coming down

By Glen Hallick
Glacier FarmMedia staff

Organic grain prices remain at some of their highest levels ever, according to a number of people in the industry — but those prices have reached or are reaching a point where buyers are choosing not to buy.

The organic grain crops in Canada are at different ends of the spectrum. Essentially, crops on the Prairies suffered from the summer’s heat and severe drought, which have led to tight supplies. Meanwhile, organic crops in Ontario did quite well, with largely co-operative weather until recently.

“Harvest has been good for the most part, but it’s not done yet. There been has inclement weather for the last two months. The corn harvest is not finished yet. It’s probably half done. The soybean harvest is probably 90 per cent complete,” Harro Wehrmann of Wehrmann Grains and Seeds at Ripley, Ont. said.

As organic farmers were combining in light snow, Wehrmann said soybean prices were quite strong and holding up. Those for corn have slipped a little bit, but remained strong as well.

Rob Wallbridge, president of the Organics Council of Ontario, concurred that soybeans and corn were doing quite well, but noted there have been quality issues in organic soft wheat. He said milling prices were average, while those for feed were above average.

Both commented that Ontario’s organic grain prices have been well influenced by those from the Prairies.

“The country is just short on grain right now,” Bryce Lobreau of Pristine Prairie Organics at Pipestone, Man. said.

Organic feed prices are guided more by the sharp upticks in the conventional market rather than demand for organics, he said.

For Scott Shiels of Grain Millers Canada at Yorkton, Sask., oat prices are “crazy,” with demand not backing off despite the rise in prices this year.

“At $10-$12 a bushel, oats are still a cheap food. That makes a difference,” he said.

As flax ranges from $75 to $80/bushel, Shiels quipped, “You need an armed guard when you haul your grain.” With a Super B capable of hauling 1,600 bushels, he said the load of flax is worth up to $128,000.

To Bill Longman of Sunrise Foods International at Saskatoon, the organic grain market has been leveling off because of demand.

“There’s been a fair bit of push back from the customers and the buyers. They can only go so high and they can only pass along so many costs. Eventually it had to level out,” he said.

“They’re starting to buy further and further out. They don’t have that desperate need for prompt movement and coverage,” he added.

Jason Charles of Pipeline Foods agreed, stating further price increases will end up killing demand.

“Buyers are going to be ‘hand-to-mouth’ because no one is going to want to pay these prices,” he said, noting only three times before over the last 20 years have there been similar hikes.

Abe Enns of NutraSun Canada in Regina stated milling wheat prices remained too high due to tight supplies. He said he didn’t know of those prices would continue to climb higher or reverse course.