The Rural Voice, 1999-02, Page 39News
very easy ration to balance." It's an
extremely health ration for livestock
whether milking cows or beef cows,
Beer said.
Forage has a tremendous
economic effect "because when you
plant that crop of alfalfa it's probably
going to be in the field five or six
years. What other crop can we grow
that will give that kind of
productivity for so little expense?"
Environmentally, forages are
almost 100 per cent protection
against wind or soil erosion. Not only
do forages save soil, they help it.
"The more forages we grow, the
better it is for our soil." 0
Walkerton turkey
processing plant
to close
One of Bruce County's few
remaining food processing plants will
close April 2 with the loss of 293
jobs.
Maple Leaf Poultry has
announced a new joint venture with
Cold Springs Farms which will
consolidate turkey processing for
both companies at Thames Valley
Processors at Thamesford. Maple
Leaf said neither its Walkerton plant
nor Cold Spring's plant were
working at capacity. The Thamesford
operation is more competitive with
modern equipment, Hazard Analysis
Critical Control Point (HACCP)
standards, higher processing capacity
and better location for market access
and closer proximity to producers.
Maple Leaf said it will provide
assistance to employees including
on-site counselling for employees
and their spouses as well as a
severance and benefit package for
entitled employees.
The Walkerton plant, which
processed about 50,000 turkeys a
week, had been operated by Maple
Leaf Poultry for 10 years. The
company evolved from Walkerton
Egg and Dairy Plant which was a
community -owned organization
which was purchased by Canada
Packers in 1930. The company
started processing chickens at the sitc
in the mid -1950s.0
Grain Markets
New year but same
old markets
By Dave Gordon
Welcome to the New Year. There
is a new currency but the same doggy
grain markets. The new Eurodollar is
presenting an interesting scenario
with many analysts wondering if it
will replace the U.S. dollar as the
standard for world currency. As a
result, the Canadian dollar has
strengthened as a side effect of a
weaker U.S. dollar versus the strong
Eurodollar.
Grain markets did strengthen a bit
right after the New Year and once
again the higher prices provided an
opportunity to sell some grain. After
the USDA reports showed reduced
usage of all grains, prices tailed off
and have settled back towards
contract lows. Unless we see some
major drought problems in South
America, I cannot foresee any price
strength in the coming two to three
months.
CORN
The USDA reports of January 12,
1999 lowered 1998 production by 75
million bushels (1.9 million metric
tonne) but the projected carryover
was increased by 85 million bushels
(2.16 million metric tonne) thus
showing a decrease in usage of 160
million bushels (4.06 million metric
tonne). Not an encouraging thought
because, not only did USDA adjust
their figures for the last five years,
they also had to lower this year's
demand from the feeding sector. Hog
numbers are expected to decline for
the next two quarters and accounts
for the reduction in feed use.
In Ontario, we know that supplies
are huge and as I've said before, we
need to export 20 to 25 million
bushels (500 to 640 thousand metric
tonne) from this crop before basis
levels can improve. A fairly large
book is on for rail cars going to the
U.S. through March and 1 believe that
sales may be on the books for the
open of navigation to some non -U.S.
origin buyers. Combined, these will
come close to shipping enough corn
out of Canada to give us a better
supply/demand balance.
Basis levels are currently $0.55 to
$0.60 over the March futures for corn
stored at an elevator and $0.70 over
December for new crop corn and if
the Canadian dollar continues to gain,
expect these basis levels to fall
further back.
SOYBEAN
As with corn, the USDA reduced
1998 soybean production but
increased the projected carryover by
15 million bushels (408 thousand
metric tonne) showing a net decline
in usage of 21 million bushels (572
thousand metric tonne). At the same
time, the South American soybean
crop was increased by about 36.7
million bushels (I million metric
tonne) because of the excellent
planting conditions and timely rains.
In Ontario, we probably won't
need to export any more soybeans to
balance the supply/demand although
specialty beans will continue to go
offshore. Basis levels in Ontario will
move towards import levels but not
until the current round of sold beans
gets cleared up by the crushers. So
far, producer selling of soybeans is
well ahead of corn as a percentage of
the total crops.
Old crop basis levels are holding
around $2.40 to $2.45 over March
futures while new crop basis is $2.20
to $2.25 over the November futures.
These Canadian basis levels will
continue to react directly to moves in
the Canadian dollar. If the dollar
continues to move upwards basis
levels will obviously fall back.
FEBRUARY 1999 35