The Rural Voice, 2002-01, Page 39Advice
completing the Livestock Medicines
Course. Ask your veterinarian or
visit the OMAFRA web site at
http://www.gov.on.ca/OMAFRA/eng
lish/livestock/dairy/confrnc for
upcoming dates and locations for this
course.
A water quality testing protocol
will also be evaluated in the coming
months, as it will also become a part
of the CQM program.
Currently, DFO board members
are involved in a pilot project to
evaluate time temperature recorders
and to assess the process of
developing SOPs on-farm. Over the
next few months, chairs of the county
milk committees will be asked to
participate in the next phase of the
pilot project. The information
gathered from these pilot projects
will be valuable in making the
implementation of this program to all
producers as smooth as possible.
Dairy producers may be hesitant
of adopting this idea since they are
producing quality milk already. The
CQM program is designed to
minimize the risk of producing milk
of poor quality in the future. Dairy
producers may also be concerned
about the required changes needed to
comply with the CQM program. The
time temperature recorder and the
producer's time will be the main
costs of the program. The majority
of dairy producers in the province
already follow management practices
that would satisfy the CQM program.
These activities would just need to be
documented. The amount of record
keeping may need to change
depending on the producer.
However, the benefits of having
accurate, up-to-date records should
outweigh the time needed to record
the required data.
The CQM program will be a great
tool to assist dairy producers to
provide a consistent, high quality
product which processors and
consumers are demanding.0
The Rural Voice
welcomes letters
to the editor
Grain Markets
Weakness continues
in markets
By Dave Gordon
December 14, 2001
The general tone of grain markets
has continued to be one of weakness.
The USDA issued both U.S. and
World supply/demand reports, which
certainly were not negative. yet the
market action, especially in corn and
soybeans was disappointing. Demand
for soybeans. both domestic and
export are strong and China has
stepped in to buy U.S. corn in recent
weeks: The question remains
however, was this grain bought to
satisfy WTO requirements or did
China have production problems this
year? There is a rumor that China
may be in for some U.S. wheat in the
near future and this possibility has
kept the wheat market alive.
Planting in South America will be
completed by the time you read this
article and weather conditions so far
are excellent. With this scenario,
price action will continue to be very
flat in the coming months.
CORN
The USDA left corn carryover
unchanged and I know that some
traders were disappointed as they
thought that exports should increase
with the recent purchases by China.
However, with export sales already
lagging USDA projections, it was
probably prudent to leave the
projections unchanged. The next
report in January 2002 will focus on
the final production for 2001. I feel
there may be another increase in U.S.
corn production coming and by
January we should have a better
handle on further export sales.
In Ontario, the official production
figure is about 200 million bushels.
well above last year. Since the
Ontario market was front -loaded
price wise — meaning basis levels
were very high early in the harvest. a
substantial amount of U.S. corn wa.
imported and plenty of corn is now in
position to last the winter months.
Basis levels have started to soften and
I think will continue to drop for three
reasons:
1. The Canadian dollar -is showing
some strength.
2. The basis in Michigan is
weakening.
3. Local processors have their
needs well covered for the next few
months.
SOYBEANS
The USDA supply/demand report
was slightly bullish for the whole soy
complex, but price action after the
report was discouraging. The soybean
carryover was dropped by 25 million
bushels with higher crush and export
figures. However, the South
American crop conditions are simply
too good to ignore. Even though the
crop is far from being made, traders
are looking into the future and trading
what they think will be a good crop.
In Ontario, basis levels continue to
be very strong. In U.S. fund terms.
basis will stay strong throughout the
year because of the very poor Ontario
crop. I noticed that the crop insurance
average is still dropping and is
closing in on 20 bushels/acre. If the
dollar continues to gain strength.
basis levels in Canadian funds will
appear to soften and there is some
thought that the Canadian dollar will
track up to the $.65 U.S. to $.66 U.S.
area.
New crop basis in Ontario is quite
strong.compared to normal values
and will stay strong at least until
planting intentions are known. Right
now, it appears there could be a
200,000 acre swing from soys to corn
in 2002 in Ontario. This swing would
keep Ontario in an import situation.
Grain markets have been relatively
flat for the last couple of years with
only the odd blip higher. In situations
JANUARY 2002 35