MarketsFarm — Harvest activity in the western Canadian Prairies had depressed feed grain prices at the end of August, but prices have recovered slightly.
“There’s been a bit of a break in harvest activity,” Allen Pirness of Market Place Commodities in Lethbridge said.
Producers in southern Alberta had been harvesting barley at the end of August, he said, but have since turned their attention to wheat crops.
“So there’s less barley on the market,” he said.
In recent weeks, feed barley prices have been around $195 per tonne delivered in the Lethbridge area, but have since come up to about $210 per tonne.
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Harvest activity had mainly been concentrated in southern Alberta, but central Alberta and Saskatchewan will likely start their feed barley harvests as well.
Harvest activity also tends to slow down grain shipments, as producers work to get their other crops into the bin. Local export demand is another factor swaying prices into fall.
“If producers have strong local elevator bids, it’s harder to haul that grain into southern Alberta for the feed market,” Pirness said.
— Marlo Glass reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.
