This insight comes from Kim McConnell, someone who knows about business success — and how to make that beautiful music. After a long career in the agriculture industry, the former founder of AdFarm is still mentoring up-and-coming young executives in agriculture and he knows what it takes to succeed in the industry.

“We are in an industry with a future. Just look at how many people we have got to feed, and what we do in the world,” McConnell says. “To do that, we need young people who are sharp and smart, innovative and creative. They need to be entrepreneurs. They have to be able to analyze the opportunities, the challenges, and to take on and mitigate risk. That’s the entrepreneurial component of all this.

“Your production, marketing, financial and management skills have to be sharp. If you are going to run a viable business, you are going to have to be on top of all those things and that takes good business skills.”

Business basics don’t change

Today’s young farmers are focusing a lot more on business skills than previous generations. They know these skills will help their farms be successful not just in their core operations but also help them identify opportunities as they arise. 

And the basic principles that make a farm successful are the same for any business.

It comes down to four factors: producing a good product, marketing that product, understanding financials, and sound management. Farmers need to be in control of all these things. That’s not to say they must be an expert in every area, but they should be able to recognize when extra help is required in the form of employees or advisors.

“Nothing’s changed in terms of farmers needing farm business management practices and those practices, in their essence, haven’t changed,” says Heather Watson, executive director of Farm Management Canada. “Of course, new skills are required for farming, such as data literacy, but farm managers don’t need to take it all on themselves. They need to figure out the skills required to farm and be resourceful in building the capacity of the farm by finding others with those skills and hire them in or contract the services out.”

Where you make your money

Although marketing hasn’t traditionally been a strong suit for many farmers, it’s something they should understand even if they are selling into bulk commodity markets.

“You have to be able to market the product and be sure that you are selling it at the price you need to make a profit,” McConnell says. 

Hand in hand with marketing is risk management, another skill that today’s ag entrepreneurs are eager to learn about. 

“As an example, people are interested in understanding how the futures market work,” says Larry Martin, who has been an instructor for the Canadian Total Excellence in Agricultural Management (CTEAM) program for many years. “There is definitely more interest in risk management today.”

Arguably, the most important skill — and the most challenging — is financial and strategic management. The profitability and sustainability of the farm hinges on these fundamental elements.

“All the successful businesspeople I know definitely know their numbers,” McConnell says. “They have specific data on all aspects of their operation. They know their costs per acre, per animal, etc. They know their cost of production to the minute detail. They have data at their fingertips that they can use to make the right decisions and better decisions.”

“A lot more people are appreciating why they need to understand their finances better,” says Martin. “Some people who committed to land or equipment when crop prices were high are in trouble now that banks are becoming more conservative in terms of their management, so people are realizing it’s not a bad idea to understand financial ratios and what they mean.”

Start with a plan

Even though a strategic approach is more important than ever, only one in five Canadian farmers approach farm management strategically.

“This has got to change if we are going to sustain Canada’s farm sector,” says Watson. 

“It’s important to take a strategic approach to farming, grounded in a clear vision of success and a road map to success. That includes understanding the business landscape, the risks and opportunities out there, and understanding and building the internal capacity to succeed, while leveraging external resources to expand capacity.”

And it all begins with a plan.

“My definition of strategic management is you start with a plan, then you use all sorts of data to measure whether your assumptions are correct, and your performance is as you expected it to be,” says Martin. “Make sure you are ready to pivot whenever the data tells you that things have changed. Those are the parts of strategic management that allow people to make informed decisions so that they can go in the right direction.”

“Each farmer is going to have to study their situation, where they live and what they have,” McConnell says. “For some, the opportunity will be to get bigger, for some it will be to diversify into another area or into different crops. Every situation is different. Everybody’s got to do a sufficient level of strategic thinking to determine what success is going to look like for them, and how they are going to go about doing it.”

The experience factor 

Greg and Sarah Stamp of Enchant, Alta., were voted Alberta’s 2023 Outstanding Young Farmers and went on to win the National OYF title that year. When they came back to the Stamp family farm in 2006, Greg started out as an employee. His intention was to stay five years to help rebuild the seed side of the business with his parents, Richard and Marian, so they developed a plan from day one. 

“For entrepreneurs, writing down a plan with timelines, business and personal goals, and having communication amongst the people you’re working with, is so critical,” Stamp says. “Having that all written down so you can reference it, adjust it and know exactly where everyone else is at was something we did from the start. 

“Our budgets, plans and goals allow us to understand where the money is being made, where it’s going, and how things are secured, so we can have clear communication with our bankers.”

Five years turned into 10 for the Stamps. They weren’t easy years, but eventually Stamp and his two brothers, Nathan and Matthew, began to see the business grow exponentially and start to achieve the vision they had outlined in their planning process.

Today, the 8,500-acre farm produces pedigree wheat, barley, faba bean, pea, lentil, flax, hybrid rye, mustard and hybrid canola seed with the help of 20 full-time and nine seasonal employees. Greg is the seed sales manager, Nathan manages the farm’s day-to-day operations, and Matthew runs business operations and on-farm construction projects. They have also hired a CFO.

Stamp knows the importance of soft skills, such as teamwork, active listening, problem solving, conflict resolution and critical thinking. “It’s how you talk to people, how you plan with people, how you make someone feel when you talk to them,” he says. “Even talking on a phone to someone, or how you approach someone is a skill that is rare but is so critical in agriculture because it’s a relationship business.”

These soft skills can be taught by a parent or a mentor, instructor or professor, but are challenging to implement. Communications, teambuilding and adaptability, for example, are primarily shaped and developed through personal attributes and values, and are embedded in the experiences, relationships and perspectives that people acquire over a lifetime. 

When it comes to gaining experience and perspective it’s a policy on the Stamp farm that family members have to get further education after high school. They also must work elsewhere for two years before they come back to the farm, because they value life experience as much as they do education — and because they know it ultimately provides benefits not only to the person but also the farm. 

“It’s got to be two years away working for someone else so that you learn what working in the real world is like, and also to explore other options,” Stamp says. “If and when they do come back, what value are they going to bring back to the business? What are they going to take care of? What are their goals? I want to hear all that from someone who’s joining as an employee and potentially an owner one day. What are you going to bring back to the business?”

Communication is key

Farm Management Canada, which has been committed to the adoption of business management practices on farms for over 30 years, notes that the biggest stumbling block is readiness to commit. Often, when farmers are asked why they aren’t investing in business skills and practices, they admit that they can’t get other members of the family or farm team on board. 

“The key ingredient that’s missing is the willingness and commitment to develop the skills to have the tough conversations, to make a concerted, consistent effort to talk about the things that need to be talked about,” Watson says. “To understand the resistance and learn how to move through it, or in some cases, move on. This is where I think we, as an industry and young ag entrepreneurs, need to focus development. Call it leadership, call it whatever you want. The fact is, we need to learn to communicate more effectively and build better relationships with others.”

It’s not an easy thing to do, but it is essential. For the Stamp family, rapid growth, more staff, more procedures, and an expanded land base and facilities means they’ve had to renew their focus on communicating effectively with each other and their growing employee base.

“It allows you to do a better job when everyone’s got their different areas of expertise and responsibilities, but it also comes back to how you communicate amongst the group, otherwise you end up in silos in the business,” Stamp says. “It’s a big challenge for everyone, us included.”

The Stamps tackle the issue by holding in-depth quarterly management meetings to make sure everyone stays on track with the plan. They also hold informal weekly staff meetings to discuss day-to-day operational and staffing needs.

The human factor

As farms get larger and more complex and need more people to run them, more farm owners and operators are seeking human resource management training. 

“When we ask people what they want to learn, HR is always at the top of the list, whether it’s from the perspective of managing family or employees,” says Martin, who is launching a streamlined sequel to the CTEAM program called Strategic Agribusiness Management.

“It’s a bigger problem for farmers in general to manage family HR issues because of the typical pattern of turning over the operation to family members. If you are turning over something that is generating $150,000 a year that’s one thing, but if you are turning over something that is generating $8 million you have a bigger question about whether the next generation is ready.”

The Stamps agree that human resources have become a bigger focus for them as the business grows.

“The HR side has become much more critical,” Stamp says. “You need to know the people you’re working with, and what their goals are. For example, how much time do they have in the business before they want to start slowing down? How does that look later? And what is their job? I always emphasize that being an owner, a manager or an employee can be separate things because the goals and your role in the business will be different as an owner than as an employee. That’s something I didn’t realize as much early on.”

Successful entrepreneurs also understand that any investment they make in ongoing skills development, training and networking, whether formal or informal, can help make them better managers and decision makers and consequently provide a good financial return to their business. 

What’s more interesting still are the less tangible benefits these skills and practices can bring to farmers’ lives and families, which strike at the very heart of how farmers today define success. 

In a recent survey, farmers were asked to identify the characteristics of a successful farm. Farmers ranked maximized efficiency and maximized profits the highest (63 per cent each), followed by work-life balance (56 per cent) and harmony in the family and farm team (55 per cent). In fifth place, at 49 per cent, was maximized production. 

“We have never seen work-life balance and family and farm team harmony crack the top ten priorities, let alone the top five,” Watson says. 

When the data is sorted by age demographics it becomes clear that work-life balance ranked higher for farmers under 40 years of age (60 per cent). Farmers aged between 40 and 60 still ranked maximized profits (69 per cent) and maximized efficiency (64 per cent) the highest, while harmony in the family and farm team ranked highest for farmers over 60 (60 per cent). When asked their top goals for the next three years “balancing work, life and family needs” topped the list. 

With these results it is hardly surprising that farmers who do invest in building their strategic management and business skills are defining value beyond the balance sheet.

“This data tells a story, a story about the evolution of farming and what it means to be a successful farmer,” Watson says. “These findings suggest that today’s agricultural entrepreneurs must embrace a holistic approach to farm management, integrating both economic and personal well-being into their definition of success. 

“It would seem that if maximizing efficiency, profit, work-life balance, harmony in the family and farm team, and production are the keys to long-term success, we ought to be focusing on building those skills.”

Martin also surveyed CTEAM alumni from 10 years ago to find out what difference the program has made to their business. 

“Not surprisingly, they said that it was an investment that gave them well over 100 per cent return from a monetary perspective,” Martin says. “But they also said they had better relationships with their families, more self-confidence and better mental health. We didn’t do anything to elicit those responses; they took upon it upon themselves to tell us that. It was heartwarming to get that result back.”

Resources:

• The Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC) has many resources on its website at cahrc-ccrha.ca and offers an online Ag HR Management Program and a Women in Essential Agricultural Leadership Skills Program. It also offers an AgriHR Toolkit, including checklists and customizable templates for job descriptions and HR plans, for example, designed to help farm owners and managers create an effective HR management strategy for their operation.
• For the past several years, Farm Management Canada (agriresources.ca) has been working in partnership with LeaderShift to offer the National Farm Leadership Program. This year they’ve launched a new program called InSight to help farmers whet their appetite for developing their leadership effectiveness by understanding the fundamentals of how people think, and how this influences behaviour and results.

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Chickpeas saw the largest projected production decline, dropping 41.5 per cent from the 2021-22 marketing year to 621,000 tonnes this year, Australia’s smallest domestic chickpea crop since 2019-20. Projected chickpea area also declined, falling by 31.7 per cent from the year before to 423,000 hectares, the smallest area since 2019-20.

Lupin bean production in 2022-23 is forecast to decline by 26.9 per cent to 700,000 tonnes, also the lowest total in three years. The estimated seeded area for lupins was cut by 19.5 per cent to 395,000 hectares, the smallest area since 2013-14.

Faba bean production is expected to be lower for the second straight year, 20.4 per cent from last year to be exact, at 463,000 tonnes. However, the seeded area is only estimated to be 6.2 per cent less than in 2021-22.

Meanwhile, lentils are set to become the highest producing winter pulse crop in Australia for 2022-23 at 924,000 tonnes, a 7.6 per cent increase from the previous year and a record amount for winter. There is also a projected 9.7 per cent increase in seeded area from 2021-22 at 576,000 hectares, the largest seeded area ever in the country.

The winter field pea harvest is projected to be 3.1 per cent larger than last year’s at 269,000 tonnes, while 205,000 hectares were planted for a 6.8 per cent increase.

Australia’s total winter crop production for 2022-23 is forecast to be the fourth-highest on record at 55.5 million tonnes with above average yield potentials for all states.

— Adam Peleshaty reports for MarketsFarm from Stonewall, Man.

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Laura Schmidt, a production specialist and agronomist for Manitoba Pulse & Soybean Growers (MPSG), said while pulse crops are in various stages of development, many are maturing as expected while some are still vulnerable.

“For field peas, we’re anywhere from the flat pod stage to the full pod stages. Some of those earlier seeded fields are starting to mature. For the later seeded peas that are just entering those early podded stages, right now we are looking for pea aphids,” Schmidt said, adding that root rot is showing up in fields with saturated soils.

Dry beans are ranging between the R3 and R5 development stages and growing well despite the appearance of white mold, according to Schmidt.

“We do have moisture to fill pods, so things are looking good for dry bean development right now,” she said. “For fababeans, we’re also at full pod. We’re really taking advantage of the moisture this year with the fababeans. They are really enjoying that, other than the hot temperatures.”

Schmidt mentioned that fababeans have really performed well despite fewer acres due to late seeding. But dry pea conditions are inconsistent.

“(They’re just) very variable depending on your seeding date, depending on how well drained the field is in terms if you’re seeing root rots pop up. The frequency of peas in the rotation comes into play too,” she explained. “But all in all, things are looking pretty good for the pulses so far.”

Both ascochyta and mycosphaerella blight are threatening to damage dry peas, especially later seeded crops, while sclerotinia is also a threat to pulses despite a lower presence this year. Grasshoppers are also damaging pulse crops, according to Schmidt.

VIDEO: Spray-timing a fungicide for mycosphaerella blight in peas
VIDEO: Mitigating sclerotinia in oilseed crops

The possibility of higher temperatures in August can also have a damaging effect to dry peas and fababeans.

“We’re trying to avoid flowering in those really hot temperatures,” she said. “There were signs of flower blasting (a few weeks ago) where those flowers have turned brown and kind of shriveled, but it looks like they’ve rebounded from that.

“We do have good moisture for pod filling. Rains in August normally play a bigger role for pod filling in dry beans and soybeans.”

Schmidt added that the ideal growing conditions for pulse crops this August depend on the stage in their development.

“Normally we want dry weather, hot days for peas to mature. But at the same time, we do want that moisture to fill the pods. To say what would be ideal is hard to say,” she said.

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Only lentils saw an increase, rising slightly by 0.4 per cent from 2021-22 to now 4.32 million. Meanwhile, dry peas fell 11.8 per cent at 3.37 million aces, with edible beans down 32.1 per cent at 297,000.

Chickpeas pulled back 4.2 per cent at 177,800 acres and fababeans dropped 45.7 per cent at 72,300.

However, Mike Jubinville of MarketsFarm Pro stressed a notable element in the StatCan surveys: their timing meant the numbers provided by farmers are what they hoped to plant in 2022 and may not be what they actually seeded.

“We will not know further acreage-loss changes until December, but I believe that total number is roughly 1.5 million acres,” Jubinville said.

He spread that 1.5 million mostly between spring wheat and canola each, accounting for 500,000 acres, and expects dry peas to lose another 100,000. Pulses such as lentils and chickpeas were seeded in a timely fashion, so he’s not expecting any notable changes for those.

Other pulses, such as fababeans and edible beans, may have lost some planted acres due to the soggy soil conditions throughout the Red River Valley in Manitoba, he said.

That said, he pointed to another factor on which the markets will focus.

“The market sentiment will be all about yields, getting bigger or smaller than previous ideas,” he said.

— Glen Hallick reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.

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With that in mind, she doesn’t expect any significant price changes for pulses.

“Part of the reason is we’re starting to glide into the holiday period. We’ll probably see some movement on lentils in the New Year,” she said.

Lentil prices in Western Canada have largely remained steady over the last week, according to Prairie Ag Hotwire. The only notable move has been a one-cent increase for crimson lentils.

Beans as well saw increases of a half-cent to a penny. Chickpeas were unchanged, as were peas, except for feed peas in Saskatchewan which lost $2 per bushel.

In StatsCan’s report Friday, the production of lentils in Canada this year was cut nearly 11 per cent from the federal agency’s September report, to almost 1.61 million tonnes. The estimate for dry pea production was reduced more than 10.5 per cent, at about 2.26 million tonnes.

However, StatsCan’s estimate for chickpea production in 2021-22 increased 19 per cent at 76,200 tonnes, while that for fababeans jumped almost 77.5 per cent, at 72,900 tonnes.

Despite the adjustments the federal agency made, because of the severe drought coupled with intense heat across the Prairies this summer, production overall in 2021-22 is significantly lower compared to the previous year.

Boersch said already-tight supplies will become tighter, leaving less for exports. However, she stressed the global shortage of shipping containers has made exporting pulses “brutal.”

“Mind you, our competitors in Australia have the same problem, but that still doesn’t help you reach the end customers. There’s nothing positive about it,” she said, noting she expects the shortage of containers to be resolved by summer.

Table: Pulse crop production estimates in thousands of metric tonnes from Statistics Canada’s Dec. 3 production of principal field crops report, with September’s estimates and 2020-21 data for comparison.

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“They’re further behind this year because they were later going in,” said Dale McManus, a broker with Johnston Grains at Welwyn, Sask.

Saskatchewan grows over half of Canada’s fababeans, and most are grown around the Yorkton area, where wet weather delayed spring planting. Of the 99,000 acres of fababeans seeded across Canada, Saskatchewan grows about 56,000.

Fababean prices have remained between $7 and $8 per bushel, and prices are staying largely steady due to the lack of harvest pressure.

According to the most recent crop report from the government of Saskatchewan, most crops across the province received a hard frost earlier in the week, which could damage late-maturing crops, though the extent of damage to the fababean crop is not yet known.

— Marlo Glass reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.

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“Keeping in mind this is the seeding intentions report based on a survey of growers from the beginning of March. It’s as current as the day it was collected,” said Carl Potts, executive director of Saskatchewan Pulse Growers.

In the agency’s principal field crop acreage report, released last Wednesday, estimated acres for dry white beans, dry coloured beans, chickpeas and lentils were down.

Fababeans were said to be up, from 78,400 acres Canada-wide in 2018 to 121,500 acres this year. Most of that increase will be seen on the Prairies, with Saskatchewan expected to plant 64,100 acres, a jump of nearly 87 per cent from last year.

Potts said the demand for fababeans has been strong as well as prices.

Canada’s lentil acres were projected to drop by almost 10 per cent this year, at about 3.4 million, with Saskatchewan again accounting for about 90 per cent of Canada’s acres. Statistics Canada estimated that province’s farmers will plant about eight per cent fewer lentils in 2019.

With changes in relative prices, Potts said there will likely be more red lentil acres in Saskatchewan this year and less acres of green lentils.

Chickpea acres were estimated to fall 24.5 per cent in 2019, to about 334,300. Saskatchewan has been positioned to be the Canadian center for chickpeas again at 274,300 acres, but down 25.6 per cent from 2018’s acres.

Despite that decline, Potts said the province still has very strong acres.

The federal agency estimated farmer will produce just over a quarter million acres of dry coloured beans this year. That would be a 5.2 per cent drop from 2018. Despite a decline of 25 per cent, Manitoba farmers are expected to plant the most beans at 78,800 acres.

Dry white beans were estimated to drop 16.8 per cent this year, to 73,900 acres. Ontario farmers were projected to plant 49,700 acres, nearly 10 per cent less than in 2018.

— Glen Hallick writes for MarketsFarm, a Glacier FarmMedia division specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.

Correction, May 1, 2019: A previous version of this article incorrectly quoted Carl Potts as forecasting more green lentil acres and fewer red lentil acres in Saskatchewan.

Tables: Statistics Canada’s projected pulse area for 2019, in thousands of acres, as of March 31, 2019.

Fababeans

Lentils

Chickpeas

Dry coloured beans

Dry white beans

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“For the growers that managed to get fababeans off their field, I think they were probably quite happy with the markets in 2018,” said Leanne Fischbuch, president of Alberta Pulse Growers.

“There was definitely a rise in market opportunity for fababeans, and that was reflected in the prices.”

At the end of the 2018 harvest, benchmark fababean prices were $270.88 per tonne in central Alberta, $271.58 per tonne in central Saskatchewan, and $296.17 per tonne in southern Manitoba.

Poor weather conditions in key fababean-producing countries impacted global supply, to the point where Canadian producers reaped the benefits.

Experts predict last year’s market opportunity may be enough to increase fababean acreage numbers for the 2019 growing season.

Currently, benchmark fababean prices are $314.44 per tonne in central Alberta, $319.19 per tonne in central Saskatchewan and $311.21 per tonne in southern Manitoba, according to reports from Alberta Pulse.

“We might see a bit of a jump in acreage this year because of the price,” Fischbuch said.

“Growers might look to fababeans if they haven’t had them in their rotation for a while.”

Canadian producers planted 95,000 acres of fababeans in 2017 and 78,400 in 2018. Statistics Canada releases its first acreage estimate of the year on Wednesday (April 24).

— Marlo Glass writes for MarketsFarm, a Glacier FarmMedia division specializing in grain and commodity market analysis and reporting.

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“Over the last 45 days we’ve saw this market spike, we’ll call it a buck a bushel that we’ve seen that increase from where we would typically would expect this market,” said Jeff Vipond, director for peas, canary and lentils with Scoular.

Fababean prices in Western Canada have hit the $7-$10 per bushel range in the last month, according to Vipond. A story by CNS Canada in May quoted fababean prices at the $5.50-$6.50 range, stating they had been around there for the past year.

While fababean production faltered in Canada this year, with only an estimated 96,400 tonnes, down from 99,800 tonnes last year, according to Statistics Canada, the price increase isn’t due to the lower production. Production issues around the world have led buyers to Canada pushing the price higher.

Australia and the U.K. are the major global exporters of fababeans. Australia’s crop has been slashed in half due to the country’s ongoing drought and the U.K. is facing quality issues with its crop. The largest importer of fababeans is Egypt, who has now been forced to find other countries to buy from.

“We’ve seen demand surface from that market that they’re looking to fill in the gaps there, that they’re missing out on due to the Australian and the U.K. issues,” Vipond said. “So it is providing an opportunity for western Canadian growers to participate in a market that’s not always there for us and get some decent values.”

However, Egypt will only buy high-quality fababeans and due to the delayed harvest some of Canada’s fababeans are of lower quality. Vipond said fababeans harvested before the wet and cold weather set in are great quality, while those left sitting in the field are lower quality.

“Something that people need to be aware of is that the price premiums that are being paid are for the high quality product that is still available out there,” Vipond said. “And I would say that I view it, this is going to be a pretty short term opportunity for growers.”

Once harvests in other parts of the world start to come off, Vipond expects the interest for fababeans will drop off early in the New Year.

This situation isn’t surprising, though, as Canadian fababean exports are normally sporadic. According to Vipond, Canadian fababean exports have varied year-to-year from hardly any to 25,000 tonnes.

“It really does fluctuate depending on the quality of those competing regions because they’re not going to come to us first,” Vipond said.

Domestically, fababeans are mostly used for feed as a protein source. There have been pushes in the last few years to use of more fababeans for feed. Vipond said feed fababeans are currently around the same value as feed peas, at $6 per bushel.

With the recent price spike for high-quality fababeans, Vipond has had more producers expressing interest in growing the crop next year — but he is cautioning producers against growing fababeans.

“If Australia has an average crop next year and the U.K. does as well, then our opportunity to participate in many of these markets isn’t going to be there. And we’re going to have to rely on the domestic feed market to utilize fababeans as a protein source,” he said.

— Ashley Robinson writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Glacier FarmMedia company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.

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“We had about 50,000 acres for the last three years here in Saskatchewan. And we’re thinking that we’ll be maybe slightly below that,” said SPG agronomy manager Sherrilyn Phelps.

StatsCan is predicting fababean acres to drop this year to 82,500, from 95,000, according to its principal field crop areas report released April 27. In Saskatchewan, acres are predicted to fall to 37,500, from 60,000, while fababean acres in Alberta are predicted to rise to 45,000, from 35,000.

Phelps is hoping to see closer to 50,000 acres planted in Saskatchewan, but it will depend on the spring weather. Growers in the province’s northeast, which is wetter and therefore better suited for fababeans, have been able to start seeding, which is ahead of schedule compared to years past.

“Moisture in a large part of the province is a bit limited, but in the areas where you would typically see more suitability for fababeans they are sitting OK. And areas like the northeast, they’re starting to go in.”

Fababeans are mostly sold for animal feed as they have a higher protein level than other pulse crops used for feed grains such as yellow peas. However, fababeans have had trouble catching on as a major feed source as acres fluctuate too much year-to-year to offer a consistent supply.

One feed grain marketing company contacted by Commodity News Service Canada said it buys fababeans for feed, but not regularly.

There has been interest from companies trying to sell fababeans for alternative uses, Phelps said, such as fractionation and fish feed.

“Those aren’t really developed yet. So if we can maintain some fababean acres over the next couple of years, hopefully it will drive further development on the marketing side.”

Prices for fababeans have also been flat lately; however, the feed benchmark price has been on the rise, according to information from Alberta Pulse Growers and Saskatchewan Pulse Growers. The feed benchmark price is an estimate of the feed value of fababeans in Western Canada, based on the price of competing feed ingredients.

In central Alberta the fababean feed benchmark price is currently at $399.99 per tonne, compared to $398.90 per tonne in central Saskatchewan and $349.90 per tonne in southern Manitoba. At the start of January, it was at $261.03 per tonne in central Alberta, $283.05 in central Saskatchewan and $256.38 in southern Manitoba.

For producers, however, fababean prices haven’t seen as much movement. According to Prairie Ag Hotwire, fababeans have been in the $5.50-$6.50 per bushel range for the last year in Western Canada.

— Ashley Robinson writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Glacier FarmMedia company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting. Follow her at @AshleyMR1993 on Twitter.

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