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The Rural Voice, 1999-02, Page 30shipping costs in a post -Crow -Rate world, have sent farmers searching for specialty crops that can give a higher return. says Huzevka. Edible beans are just part of the switch to diversified cropping in the eastern Prairies. While the shift to the west is probably permanent. some wonder if growth will continue at the current rate. Speakers at the Brodhagen meeting pointed out that as acreage grows in Manitoba it goes into areas that are more and more risky in terms of weather. Fotheringham feels the same development of new short -season soybean varieties that has allowed soybeans to surpass corn as the largest crop grown in Ontario will also attract more acreage in Manitoba, providing a competitor for white beans there too. Helping attract some Ontario growers back to white beans is the new Partial Production Contract which allows farmers an option to get some of their money much earlier to help with cashflow. "A lot of younger growers haven't had experience with what the board has done for producers," says Fotheringham. They've had experience with being able to contract soybeans and didn't like the idea of the pool system that saw them not get all their money for a year or year and a half after the crop was planted. "As long as you have an agency you will have some producers who feel the system isn't working for them," admits Huzevka. There is also a changing marketing environment nt` rio has quality prgce sirlp ,, pini stry -, today in which much more pricing information is available to farmers. The goal of the Bean Board is to provide farmers with options. "I want to have the best of both *odds," Huzevka said at the Brodhagen meeting. The PPC allows a farmer to contract up to five bags per acre (average Ontario yield in 1997 was 14.77 bags per acre), with a total cap of 100,000 bags for Ontario. The 26 THE RURAL VOICE producer can lock in when an attractive price is offered anytime between signing up and, in the example of this crop year, May 1, 2000. He then receives 100 per cent of that price, less normal board fees and any drying or pick charge, as soon as the beans are delivered to an elevator. Industry players sincerely hope farmers will answer the call of $30 beans and increase Ontario acreage. At the 35,000 acres planted last year, the whole infrastructure of the Ontario edible bean industry is on shaky ground. "The minimum acreage to make it a viable industry is 80,000 acres," said Thompson at the Brodhagen meeting. "For us to justify our equipment we need 80,000 acres." Gord Pryde, edible bean sales manager with Hensall District Co-op says his company's big investment in new equipment back in 1994 was based on 80,000 to 100,000 acres of beans being grown. In some cases Ontario processors have been keeping their equipment busy by bringing Manitoba beans east but Ford says it proved uneconomical for his company to transport dirt, broken beans and other garbage all the way w Ontario for cleaning. Cook's have now set up a processing plant in Manitoba to clean and bag beans there. The company has' tried to make up the loss of processing time by doing coloured beans and edible soybeans. The profit on the soybeans is not as high and there isn't the volume to make up for the decrease in white beans. That causes inefficiencies in manpower, Ford says. The same people who would have been processing beans are the people needed come spring to serve farmers with their crop inputs. The company can't afford to lay people off in slack times in January to March and possibly lose good staff. Pryde says Hensall Co-op has been successful in expanding its edible soybean and coloured bean processing to take up the slack in production. "Ten years ago we didn't have the varieties of edible soybeans," he says. "We've been lucky the varieities came along to go with the expertise our farmers already had in soybeans." Ontario companies have invested ATTENTI.ON.... EDIBLE BEAN GROWERS COOK'S Division of Parrish & HeimbeckerLtd. has new Crop 1999 Contract prices & Seed Available for • Cranberry • Black • Whites • Light & Dark Red Kidney Beans CONTACT YOUR LOCAL BRANCH: HENSALL KIRKTON AMBERLEY 262-2410 229-8986 395-3601 CENTRALIA WALTON PARKHILL 228-6661 887-9261 294-6256 6� Division of Parrish $c Heimbecker Limited 26 THE RURAL VOICE producer can lock in when an attractive price is offered anytime between signing up and, in the example of this crop year, May 1, 2000. He then receives 100 per cent of that price, less normal board fees and any drying or pick charge, as soon as the beans are delivered to an elevator. Industry players sincerely hope farmers will answer the call of $30 beans and increase Ontario acreage. At the 35,000 acres planted last year, the whole infrastructure of the Ontario edible bean industry is on shaky ground. "The minimum acreage to make it a viable industry is 80,000 acres," said Thompson at the Brodhagen meeting. "For us to justify our equipment we need 80,000 acres." Gord Pryde, edible bean sales manager with Hensall District Co-op says his company's big investment in new equipment back in 1994 was based on 80,000 to 100,000 acres of beans being grown. In some cases Ontario processors have been keeping their equipment busy by bringing Manitoba beans east but Ford says it proved uneconomical for his company to transport dirt, broken beans and other garbage all the way w Ontario for cleaning. Cook's have now set up a processing plant in Manitoba to clean and bag beans there. The company has' tried to make up the loss of processing time by doing coloured beans and edible soybeans. The profit on the soybeans is not as high and there isn't the volume to make up for the decrease in white beans. That causes inefficiencies in manpower, Ford says. The same people who would have been processing beans are the people needed come spring to serve farmers with their crop inputs. The company can't afford to lay people off in slack times in January to March and possibly lose good staff. Pryde says Hensall Co-op has been successful in expanding its edible soybean and coloured bean processing to take up the slack in production. "Ten years ago we didn't have the varieties of edible soybeans," he says. "We've been lucky the varieities came along to go with the expertise our farmers already had in soybeans." Ontario companies have invested