The crop prices thread

[screener]

Cricket Tragic, I gotta say this, I think urbanization of agricultural land is degradation of agricultural land. I know there has been a lot of progress in the last while in stabilizing farm soils and preventing erosion. Let's hope the knowledge is able to spread to other areas.

This is an example of the kind of thing I was referring to. I don't think that social engineering is any less important than any other kind of enngineering, but this is simply a matter of good self interest and if people are interested in eating this may be a very valuable option.

http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-101294-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

“various studies and projects indicate that official support of urban and peri-urban agriculture contributes to poverty reduction by enhancing access of the urban poor to fresh and nutritious food at affordable prices, generating additional income and stimulating micro-enterprise development.”

I don't think this is being too dramatic, a fairly involved study of the degradation of farmland due to potential global warming impacts.

http://www.voanews.com/english/archi...TOKEN=16333508

By the end of this century, if current trends continue, world agriculture will be in serious trouble, according to economist William Cline, senior fellow with the Center for Global Development and the Peterson Institute for International Economics. His new study, Global Warming and Agriculture finds that global agriculture potential could fall by about five to 15 or 20 percent as a result of global warming, if nothing is done by the 2080s. But, he says, that would mask a much deeper loss, "Something like 30 to 40 percent in India, and something like 20 percent or more in Africa and Latin America, because there would be some countries that could actually [experience] some gain."

Some areas like North Africa could go into total "agricultural collapse". Other reports are at least suggesting that such impacts are happening already.

[bruce]

Originally Posted by screener

Bruce. This is the market price as of the old Winnipeg Commodities Market, The newly bought subsidiary ICE Canada.


ICE Futures Canada Ready to Provide Much Needed Price Transparency for International Barley Market Thursday, January 10, 2008
The Honourable Gary Ritz, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board is calling for "accurate and transparent price signals" for barley in Canada. This can only be achieved by allowing market participants access to a fair, open and regulated futures marketplace, upon which spot and forward cash markets can be based. more...

ICE Reports on December and Year End Volumes Thursday, January 03, 2008
Click here for the official press release document more...

Winnipeg Commodity Exchange to Become ICE Futures Canada Monday, December 31, 2007
Click here for the official press release document more...

Real-Time Nearby Quotes - Quotes will not be displayed after Feb. 28
Commodity Contract Code Status Open
Canola Mar-08 RSH8 Open 566.9 9
Feed Wheat Mar-08 WWH8 Open 224.0
Western Barley Mar-08 ABH8 Open 202.6



©2005 ICE Futures Canada, Inc. All rights reserved.UK Disclaimer Support Legal Contact Us Site Map

These are the prices that I am hearing about here, What is the FT quoting for volumes or conditions of sale that warrant those prices?

It is probably the UK commodoties market in London that they're quoting. Ah, ok, I did some digging and found this page http://markets.ft.com/ft/markets/res...ort=COM&cat=CO

Wheat is from the LIFFE exchange and is measured in £ per tonne.
They also measure it from the CBT exchange in cents per 60lb bushel. Have a look at that link and they have much more data on each crop.

[screener]

Thanks Bruce, cents per bushel fits right in. dollars or pounds per tonne had this old farmers heart going through siezure.

I have to admit I thought I was missing out big time. Apparently there are others with a similar larcenous heart in the know about rising grain prices. I haven't seen this kind of news since the late seventies.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=17984534

But this boom has also brought problems to the prairie.

In western Kansas police are investigating almost a dozen incidents where thieves using tractor trailers stole wheat from grain elevators.

[bruce]

CHICAGO, Feb 15 (Reuters) - U.S. high-protein spring wheat traded at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange closed in on $20 per bushel on Friday, soaring to a record high $19.88 as traders remained hesitant to be net sellers of wheat amid the lowest stockpile in the United States in 60 years.

Feed Article | Business |

[bruce]

Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- The biggest rally in the history of wheat trading defied even some of the best conventional wisdom, humbling forecasters Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and the U.S. government.


Wheat has more than doubled since May, reaching a record $11.53 a bushel on Feb. 11 and driving up costs for everything from Eggo waffles and Italian pasta to Pakistani flatbreads and Japanese pastry. This month the world's biggest securities firm scrapped projections for a price drop within 90 days, and the U.S., the biggest exporter, said it would ship 23 percent more than originally estimated before summer.

Bloomberg.com: Exclusive

[screener]

just plain scary. with descriptions out there of nations hoarding food, I hope that the optimistic predictions of prices bringing increased production hold up. The biggest factor mentioned for reduced crops are weather related and outside farmers control, as are the higher costs of production for mainstram farms

[forfi]

Originally Posted by screener

just plain scary. with descriptions out there of nations hoarding food, I hope that the optimistic predictions of prices bringing increased production hold up. The biggest factor mentioned for reduced crops are weather related and outside farmers control, as are the higher costs of production for mainstram farms

More parasites

[delboy]

Wheat prices set fresh records as concern grows about dwindling supplies of spring wheat.

BBC NEWS | Business | Fresh records for price of wheat

[screener]

I've noticed lately some reports that say that while grain stocks are down in the world, driving prices up, grain handling companies have bigger stocks on hand than they did a few months or a year ago. Definitely a sign that they at least expect prices to go higher yet.

Are there many farmers out there who have managed to keep some produce from last year, or are you selling next years crops already? I've held on to some, not much, but only by having off farm income.

[Cricket Tragic]

Screener, most of the farmers I work with have sold most of last year's crop. With record prices and back-to-back droughts, they had little option. A few with better cash flow are holding some, but it will go before June.

At the moment there is a bit of reluctance amongst these growers to forward sell. With a drought last year, there were many farmers burnt because they had to buy out contracts. I am recommending forward selling about 30% of the anticipated crop, but I suspect most will forward sell less. Options are the flavour of the month here (my actual recommendation is 30% on contracts or options) because farmers see them as less risky in droughts.