Why it matters: Harvesting potatoes with a tuber pulp temperature above 18 °C increases the risk of soft rot and pythium leak diseases during storage.

Kevin Brubacher, Ontario Potato Board general manager, said many growers were starting to harvest between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. and were off the fields by 10 a.m. before the heat ramped up.

“We’re definitely watching the heat. You don’t want to go too far into the day when it was hot there,” agreed Quinton Woods, Gwillimdale Farm’s sales and plant operations manager. “But you’re able to get the acres that you need to get through in a day anyway.”

He said Gwillimdale has harvested approximately 70 per cent of the crop at their Bradford and New Liskeard locations.

“Quality is good, yield is average, but I know that’s not indicative of everybody in the province,” said Woods.

Brubacher estimated yields are down 15 per cent, in part due to potato size, but “on the flip side of a dry year, quality is usually very good.”

A little over half of Ontario’s 38,000 to 40,000 potato acres are chipping varieties, which require a tuber pulp temperature below 18 °C before going into storage to limit disease or degradation of the crop.

Brubacher suggested that growers of earlier varieties may have encountered increased costs in cooling the crop for storage.

“A lot of the harvesting for the storage crop is happening now, and will be happening for the next few weeks,” Brubacher explained. “For the bulk of it, we’ve missed the extreme heat in the fall.”

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The Alliston, Ont. equipment company unveiled a prototype as part of its range of Grimme and Spudnik potato and cash cropping machinery solutions at the event organized by the Ontario Potato Board.

Why it matters: The grader uses optical sensing to sort potatoes and remove foreign debris, increasing storage capacity.

The HJV Split Grader has a Grimme receiving hopper to assist with soil extraction and feeds into the foldable lead-in elevator, ensuring a smooth flow of potatoes from the field to storage.

“The lead-in elevator folds up for road transport so that we can easily access the hitch, and for storage at the end of the season,” explained Dan Mann, vice president of HJV Engineering.

The potatoes are lifted via the elevator onto the coil table, where they are separated. One-third of the larger potatoes may be separated into storage, or after the remaining roughly two-thirds of the crop undergo optical sorting, the entire crop can be combined.

The integrated Tomra 3A series optical sorter can process 100 tonness per hour using a combination of air, LED illumination, camera-based imaging, and Artificial Intelligence to detect green potatoes and foreign materials such as clods, debris, golf balls, and walnuts.

“Once it detects a piece of foreign debris, these (plastic) fingers come out with air, and it kicks the debris onto this belt (to be disposed of),” said Mann. “And the potatoes land on this pintle belt, which is a nice soft landing, and are transported across and up an elevator to storage.”

At this point, if the larger potatoes haven’t been packed separately, they are recombined with the crop and placed into storage.

Significantly reducing potential foreign debris and green potatoes allows for increased storage capacity, speeds up the field-to-storage transfer process, and helps address labour shortages.

“This (Tomra) is on rails, so we can pull it out the side for maintenance or put it onto a secondary chassis for (potatoes) coming out of storage, where the machine optically looks at 100 per cent (of the crop) again to make sure there’s no foreign debris when it goes through to the factory,” said Mann.

He said the prototype will undergo rigorous field trials over the next two and a half months, with projected commercial availability in 2026.

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“The number of days over 30 C and nights over 20 C has been close to a record breaker for us, and it’s really hampered yield,” said Mark VanOostrom, supply manager for Northeast Ontario and East with WD Potato, at the Potato Field Day and Trade Show last week.

He predicts a 20 per cent yield reduction is likely, with some fields seeing up to 50 per cent loss.

“There’s a lot of variability from field to field, grower to grower, and variety to variety.”

Why it matters: Along with record-breaking high temperatures, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada reported that 71 per cent of the country reached the abnormally dry or moderate to extreme drought classifications by the end of July.

While the hot, dry weather reduced the impact of late blight this season, Dr. Eugenia Banks said producers were also scouting for pink eye and Potato Virus Y (PVY), which thrive in dry, hot conditions, as well as heat stress indicators such as leaves folding in on themselves.

“We haven’t seen a lot of disease in the canopy, on top of heat stress and drought stress, we’ve seen some early die,” VanOostrum said. “Any sort of soil disease that could be there is not helping matters, but from a disease standpoint, we’re going fairly well.”

Environmental issues, such as speckle browning, brown centres in the tuber, and heat necrosis – which is rare in Ontario – were also on VanOostrum’s radar.

He also mentioned that stem-end defects, a buildup of sugar at the stem during storage, could be a concern.

“Some of the problems from heat and drought stress crops are early sprouting. We need to understand that those fields aren’t meant for long-term storage,” he said. “And we need to put our CIPC on quicker than we normally would.”

CIPC is chlorpropham, a chemical used to inhibit potato sprouting during storage, especially at warmer temperatures.

VanOostrum suggested that recent rainfall may assist later-planted fields, especially those with ideal soil management, in reducing the impact of a poor yield to an average one.

“Some of these varieties may rejuvenate and pick up some fertilizer that hasn’t been used yet,” he suggested. “But a week from now (early September), we’re thinking about top killing and getting ready for storage.”

Tyler Beattie, a sixth-generation producer at John Beattie Farms in Alliston, said their irrigation pumps worked overtime this season. He’s optimistic that the recent drop in temperatures will help improve harvest quality, even with an expected 20 per cent yield decline.

“Usually, a smaller crop yields a better-quality potato,” Beattie said. “We’re getting those (cooler nights) now in the most important time (to get) the bulking and skin set needed for storing and gravity, which Frito Lay loves.”

Initially, his digs showed gravity (plant density) levels at 14 to 14.5, but a week of cooler temperatures bumped that to 17, far closer to the 18 to 19 gravity level favoured by processors.

The recent two to three inches of rain and cooler temperatures could help the unirrigated land crop increase residual fertilizer uptake, he said, and, along with a slight harvest delay, could make all the difference.

“It was going to be a really sad story about a month ago, and I think it’s going to be okay,” Beattie said.

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The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) will be closed on Thursday for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.

Reductions in beef cold storage supplies last month should be supportive after the Thanksgiving holiday, said Altin Kalo, economist at Steiner Consulting Group.

“There’s more beef out there, but the drawdown in inventory was quite substantial in October,” he said.

Boxed beef values were mixed on Wednesday, with choice cuts falling $3.22, to $253.41/cwt, while select cuts gained 33 cents, to $234.51, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said (all figures US$).

Most-active CME February live cattle futures eased one cent, to 155.425 cents/lb. Nearby December live cattle fell 0.45 cent to finish at 153.35 cents/lb.

CME January feeder cattle lost 2.425 cents to 179.25 cents/lb.

CME lean hog futures also eased on Wednesday, though Kalo noted underlying support in hogs as well.

“The thing that sticks out the most to me is what’s going on with hog carcass weights. Usually you see those moving higher this time of year, and they’re not. that tells you the producer is pretty current.”

The most-active February lean hogs contract settled 1.275 cents lower at 88.8 cents/lb.

— Christopher Walljasper reports on agriculture and ag commodities for Reuters from Chicago.

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“With a short week, you won’t have to have as aggressive a cash trade to fill out the packer needs for the week. So that takes the spark away from hogs and cattle,” said Matt Wiegand, risk management consultant at FuturesOne.

Most-active CME February live cattle futures eased 0.3 cent to 156.425 cents/lb. after reaching 156.875 cents (all figures US$). Nearby December live cattle added 0.25 cent to finish at 153.8 cents/lb.

CME January feeder cattle lost 0.95 cents to 181.675 cents/lb.

Boxed beef values firmed, with choice cuts adding $1.06, to $256.63/cwt, while select cuts gained 95 cents, to $234.18, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

U.S. frozen beef stocks in cold storage through October 31 fell three per cent from September to 509.949 million lbs., USDA said in a report released after the markets closed. Frozen beef is up eight per cent from the same month a year earlier.

CME lean hog futures also trimmed on Tuesday, lacking direction ahead of USDA’s cold storage report that showed lower month-over-month supplies but a sizeable increase compared to 2021.

U.S. frozen pork belly stocks of 40.196 million lbs. as of October 31 were up 246 per cent from last year, USDA said.

“Bellies are much more plentiful, which should keep the cutout from getting too carried away,” Wiegand said.

The most-active February lean hogs contract settled down 0.075 cent at 90.075 cents/lb.

— Christopher Walljasper reports on agriculture and ag commodities for Reuters from Chicago.

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CME April lean hog futures rose 2.3 cents to end at 102.55 cents/lb. (all figures US$). Most-active June hogs gained 2.9 cents to finish at 122.975 cents/lb. The June contract closed above the high end of its 20-day Bollinger range for the first time since Feb. 22.

CME’s most-active June live cattle gained 0.275 cent, to 135.975 cents/lb. The contract rose above its 20-day moving average.

May feeder cattle futures rose 0.375 cent, to 165.8 cents/lb.

The U.S. Agriculture Department said after the markets closed that pork belly stocks in cold storage totaled 50.139 million lbs. as of Feb. 28, up from 37.556 million lbs. a year earlier.

Beef stocks in cold storage rose to 532.502 million lbs. from 512.528 million at the end of February 2021.

Choice cuts of boxed beef rose by $1.39, to $261.36/cwt, by Wednesday morning, according to USDA data. Select cuts gained $1.20, to $253.09/cwt.

— Reporting for Reuters by Mark Weinraub in Chicago.

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Nearly a year later, the industry is in the middle of a speedy recovery.

At the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) on Thursday, lean hog futures were either approaching or have surpassed the US$100/cwt mark, levels which haven’t been seen since October 2014.

Brad Marceniuk, a Saskatoon-based livestock economist for the government of Saskatchewan, said there are major drivers right now behind the rise in hog prices.

“Domestic markets typically get stronger into spring and summer with barbecue season increasing demand. We have also had reduced U.S. hog slaughter numbers overall the last few weeks which has reduced pork supply,” he said via email.

“Last spring, the pandemic forced many U.S. hog slaughter plants to slow down, some temporarily closing, which reduced weekly pork supplies for many weeks, reducing U.S. pork in cold storage. Previous pork in cold storage levels have not regained to pre-pandemic levels.”

One of the major drivers is China, as it continues to rebuild its hog herd decimated by African swine fever. Last winter, there were reports China was steadily growing its herd and reducing its overseas hog purchases. Now, they are starting back up again.

“Over the last few weeks there have been reports that China is again struggling to deal with African swine fever and have been forced to kill millions of pigs. This news has likely helped the lean hogs futures contracts to move higher in anticipation of higher pork exports,” Marceniuk said.

Canadian and U.S. hog markets are thriving and, despite rising feed prices taking a bite out of profits, slaughter-weight hog prices are now 60 per cent higher than the low levels seen last July, according to Marceniuk.

“I expect hog prices over the next few months to continue to be strong. We’re at the time of year where seasonal demand is stronger…If (China’s) demand picks up again, we could see a bump up in prices higher,” he added.

— Adam Peleshaty reports for MarketsFarm from Stonewall, Man.

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The U.S. Agriculture Department’s cold storage report issued on Tuesday afternoon fueled buying on Wednesday.

“Belly and trim stocks are at four-year lows, providing support for lean hog futures, along with more reports of hog losses due to disease in China raising hopes for export business,” StoneX chief commodities economist Arlan Suderman said in a research note to clients.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange April lean hog futures rose three cents to 89.425 cents/lb. (all figures US$). The front-month contract hit its highest since May 24, 2019.

Cattle futures also were firm, with bargain buying noted after the most-active live cattle April contract hit its lowest in a month.

CME April live cattle futures rose 1.025 cents to close at 122.225 cents/lb., rising above its 30-day moving average. Resistance was noted at the contract’s 20-day moving average.

CME April feeder cattle rose 2.15 cents to 144.75 cents/lb.

— Mark Weinraub is a Reuters commodities correspondent in Chicago.

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Chicago Mercantile Exchange April live cattle futures settled up 0.425 cent at 122.95 cents/lb. (all figures US$).

Boxed beef cutout values continue to strengthen, with choice cuts up $3.91 at $226.73/cwt on Monday afternoon and select cuts up $2.87 at $216.21, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Packer margins for cattle are hovering around $300 per head, according to Denver-based livestock marketing advisory service HedgersEdge.com LLC, fueling expectations of strong cash trade this week after market-ready cattle traded at around $109-$110/cwt last week.

“The packer continues to make good margins and beef continues to move aggressively,” said Don Roose, president of Iowa-based U.S. Commodities.

USDA late on Friday reported U.S. cattle feedlot placements for December at 101 per cent of a year ago, above an average of analyst expectations for 97 per cent.

The larger-than-expected figure pressured cattle futures in early moves, but traders soon shifted their focus to rising beef prices.

USDA’s Cattle on Feed report “pushed us down early. But it’s a look backwards, almost a month old, so we didn’t pay as much attention to it,” Roose said.

However, CME March feeder cattle futures ended modestly lower on Monday, finishing down 0.3 cent at 143.85 cents/lb. as corn futures rallied, signaling higher feed costs.

CME lean hog futures edged higher, with the benchmark April contract settling up 0.475 cent at 76.625 cents/lb. The spot February contract rose 0.7 cent, to 70.625 cents/lb.

A winter storm crossing the Midwest on Monday lent support, threatening to slow the movement of animals.

After Monday’s close, USDA’s monthly cold storage report showed U.S. Dec. 31 frozen beef stocks at 534.297 million pounds, up 11 per cent from a year ago, and frozen pork belly stocks at 30.715 million pounds, down 54 per cent from this time last year.

— Julie Ingwersen is a Reuters commodities correspondent in Chicago.

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Chicago Mercantile Exchange December live cattle futures settled 0.5 cent higher at 107.875 cents/lb. (all figures US$).

Market-ready cattle traded in the cash market at $107/cwt, up $1 from the bulk of last week’s trade, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

CME feeder cattle futures gained 1.975 cents to end at 135.15 cents/lb., after reaching 135.475, the highest since Oct. 8.

“China has been buying more beef recently, on the weekly sales export reports. We assume a big chunk of that is going to get shipped before the Lunar New Year. That’s fourth quarter business,” said Alan Brugler, president of Brugler Marketing.

Back-month contracts rose as strength in U.S. stock markets fueled hopes about consumer demand for high-priced cuts of beef.

“It might be a little optimism about economic growth in 2021, and maybe that would translate to more beef demand, grilling demand for next summer,” said Brugler.

Wholesale beef prices continued to strengthen, with choice cuts up 75 cents at $210.19/cwt on Wednesday afternoon and select cuts up $1.60 at $197.05, according to USDA data.

Week-to-date cattle slaughter rates are ahead of pace, compared to last week and same time last year, with 359,000 cattle processed.

Lean hog futures also gained, with the most-active December contract ending 0.95 cent higher at 66.35 cents/lb.

Hog futures were supported by several months of lower cold storage stocks that are able to handle higher slaughter, despite a seasonal uptick in hogs.

“Everything we add to production is being absorbed, either by export or domestic consumption,” said Brugler.

Weekly hog slaughter is on pace with year ago levels, at 1.475 million slaughtered, up from last week.

— Christopher Walljasper reports on agriculture and ag commodities for Reuters from Chicago.

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