The Canadian Wheat Board is reporting near-record sign-up for CWB pricing options for the 2010-11 crop year.

At the January 31st deadline, around 12 thousand producers had committed 4.6 million tonnes of wheat to the Board's Fixed Price or Basis Price Contracts.

"The market was a rising market this year. For the Fixed Price Contract, farmers were looking for price certainty and they found that," says David Gallant, manager of farmer programs. "On the basis side, farmers were looking at the market and thought it was bullish. if they felt the market was going to go up, there was good opportunity to capture increased values there."

He says there were some attractive prices available for producers.

"On the FlexPro program, the highest value we had was $9.15 a bushel. That was the gross value, so if you back off average freight and elevation you're looking somewhere around $7.50 to $7.55 a bushel. On the fixed price it was a net of around $7.95 a bushel and for the basis price it would have been right around $9 a bushel net for Red Spring Wheat," he says.

He says growers are becoming increasingly aware of how Producer Payment Options can benefit their operations.

~ Tuesday, February 15, 2011 ~