March 26 - Closing Markets

BLACKBURN AGRI-MEDIA CLOSING MARKET REPORT:
Date: March 26, 2010

On the Chicago Board of Trade:

Corn Futures:
May up 1 and a quarter at 3.56 and a quarter
July up 1 and a quarter at 3.67 and a half

Soybean Futures:
May up 9 and a half at 9.52
July up 9 and a quarter at 9.59 and a half

Wheat Futures:
May down 1 and a half at 4.64 and a half
July down 1 and a half at 4.78

Oat Futures:
May up 5 and a quarter at 2.12
July up 5 at 2.21

-> FROM DAUPHIN FEED AND SUPPLY, THE 48% SOYBEAN MEAL QUOTE, F-O-B HAMILTON = $338/tonne

-> CLOSING LOCAL GRAIN PRICES FROM SNOBELIN FARMS:

Note there's a basis change to old and new beans ...

09 CROP CORN = up 1 at 3.51/BU
2010 CROP CORN = up 1 at 3.71/BU
2011 CROP CORN = 3.94/BU

09 CROP SOYS = up 14 at 9.32/BU
2010 CROP SOYS = up 10 at 8.53/BU
2011 CROP SOYS = up 9 at 8.56/BU

09 CROP SOFT RED WINTER WHEAT = down 2 at 3.65/BU
2010 CROP SOFT RED WINTER WHEAT = down 2 at 3.93/BU
2011 CROP SOFT RED WINTER WHEAT = down 2 at 4.69/BU

(Click icon for OCA report)

-> ONTARIO PORK REPORTS:

TOTAL SALES FOR THE WEEK = 88,499
THAT'S up 2,728 FROM THE PREVIOUS WEEK.
INCLUDED WERE 78,386 CONTRACT HOGS
AND 5,050 EXPORTS.
THE ONTARIO POOL PRICE = $133.15 PER 100 KILOGRAMS
THE ONTARIO POOL PLUS PRICE = $131.59 PER 100 KILOGRAMS
FRIDAY'S PRELIMINARY U-S NATIONAL COST PRICE = $69.99
THAT'S down 45 cents
FRIDAY'S OPENING FORWARD CONTRACT PRICE FOR July-August DELIVERY = $148.04
THAT'S down $2.48 FROM THURSDAY.

CFFO: Economic New Realities Need Understanding

A Christian Farmers Federation spokesman says government talk about needing to adjust to new realities can have a major impact on agriculture.
Nathan Stevens says financial institutions have to realise there are times when particular commodities within agriculture suffer from extended periods of loss.

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Stevens says one pork producer he's aware of has been forced into debt mediation by his long-time financial institution because the bank wouldn't consider his plan for re-structuring his debt.

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(Click icon for full CFFO Commentary)

Forum Urges Action On Local Abattoir Situation

They talked about over-regulation, the reality of food safety and even what some called a lack of common sense.
Panelists and audience members alike at last night's public forum on local food in Wingham all seemed to agree something needs to be done to protect the remaining small abattoirs in Ontario.
One of the panelists was Kevin Green, owner of Green's Meat Market in Wingham.
He says his whole business is based on the agricultural community in his area.

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Green says the costs of meeting increasingly tough regulations have to be passed on to the consumer and to the farmers who get their animals processed at his plant.

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One of the suggestions at last night's forum was that there should be a two-teired set of regulations.
One set to deal with the assembly-line style of production at the big processing plants - another, more realistic set to match up with the way animals are processed at small, local abattoirs.
Green says having different sets of rules for different sized operations could make a lot of sense.

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The people at last night's forum heard how the costs of the increasingly tough regulations designed to prevent widespread food illness in the major processing operations are pushing many small abattoir operators out of business.
The Perth-Oxford N-F-U is running a postcard campaign urging Agriculture Minister Carol Mitchell to take action to save those operators.
Former MPP and Parlaimentary Assistant to the Minister of Agriculture - Paul Klopp - suggested there should be a push for the government to set up a task force on the issue.
He says that group should include people who truly understand the industry and it should also have the necessary political clout to get something done.

Mitchell: Government Working On Ag Spending Details

The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture is getting an increase in it's part of the budget.
Agriculture Minister and Huron-Bruce MPP Carol Mitchell says they now need to work out the specifics of how that money will be spent.
But she says no matter what the increase is this is not the money that would be needed for the provincial portion of any possible business risk management plans for Ontario farmers.

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Mitchell says funding for business risk management plans would come from the Finance Department - after negotiations have been completed with the federal government.
The minister says farmers wanting to get a general idea what kind of things her ministry will be spending it's money on should refer to the provincial throne speech.
Mitchell says those details are being worked out.

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Mitchell says she believes there's room for something to be done on the predator issue this year.
And she says negotiations continue with Ottawa on potential business risk management programs.
Mitchell says the provincial government is aware of the problems being faced by local abattoirs.
She says the government has provided some funding to help them meet new regulations.
And she says her ministry is continuing to work with the local processor/abattoir group.

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Mitchell says although there were no specifics in yesterday's budget her government wants to see a greater presence of Ontario product both across the province and beyond our provincial borders.

Conservative Ag Critic Taken Aback By Budget

Conservative Agriculture Critic Ernie Hardeman says he was taken aback by the provincial budget speech.
Hardeman says the fact there was no mention of agriculture in the speech - and only line-item references to the ministry in the budget document - doesn't bode well for the industry.

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Hardeman says with the provinces farmers facing some real challenges there should have been something in the speech on those challenges and what the provincial government planned to do about them.

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Hardeman says while there was an overall increase in the provincial Agriculture ministry's budget it's not clear at all where or even if that money is going to be spent in the coming year.

Ideas For The Future Of Farming

A farm commentator from Wellington County says farmers need to re-connect with consumers.
Elbert van Donkersgoed says the dis-connect we have now means Ontario is importing food products we could be producing within the province.
He says farmers have to change from being producers of raw, bulk product.

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Van Donkersgoed suggests consumers are already willing to pay extra for local food.

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Van Donkersgoed says we need to find creative ways to market local food products.
He argues doing that sucessfully would force the supermarket chains to follow suit and start putting more and more local product on their shelves.
Van Donkersgoed says an example of the change that has happened is the Ontario Food Terminal - originally set up to help distribute the province's food to grocery retailers.

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He suggests farmers could take a page from the restaurant trade and adding more sizzle to their product at the farm level before it moves into the food chain.

Healthy Ethanol Increase Forecast

The Global Renewable Fuels Alliance is predicting a healthy increase in ethanol production this year.
The Association says production will climb from about 74 billion litres last year to almost 86 billion litres this year.
That's an increase of more than 16 per cent.
And the Association says more than half of that - about 45 billion litres - will be produced in the United States.
The GRFA says that much ethanol will displace the need for 370 million barrels of oil.
The Global Renewable Fuels Alliance represents more than 65 per cent of the world's renewable fuels production from 30 countries.