he Canadian Wheat Board, or CWB, has introduced new pricing options for feed wheat in an effort to help farmers deal with the larger supplies of lower-quality grain this year, the CWB said.
Wet weather throughout the growing season means more feed wheat in the bins than there has been in at least six years. This has created a difficult situation for many farmers, CWB President and Chief Executive Ian White said in the release, adding that as much as a quarter of all wheat harvested this year could grade as feed.
The new pricing program, launched Monday, gives farmers the choice of immediately locking in prices for Canada Western feed wheat, said the release. It uses the CWB's Early Payment Option in a new way, as a means of striving for the highest returns for feed wheat from the current market environment.
Farmers tell us they'd like to lock in a feed-wheat price this year, so we've adapted an existing program to enable them to do that, White said in the release. Farmers can now choose the feed-wheat price that suits them best, taking into account their market view and cash-flow needs.
In an average year, more than 70% of western Canadian spring wheat is in the top two grades. This year, only 38% is expected to grade No. 1 or 2, leaving about 35% as No. 3 and 25% as feed. Not since the cold summer and wet harvest of 2004 has the CWB expected such a high volume of feed wheat, said the release.
