Ah Peas! Why we need better Crop Reporting!

[SASKFARMER3]

Low Stocks-To-Use Ratio To Keep Pea Bids Well Supported
Canadian pea exports have been running at a very solid pace during the 2014-15 crop year to date, but supplies are running out and the market will need to work to ration demand over the later portion of the marketing year, says Heidi Dutton, general manager with ADM, in a post on albertafarmexpress.ca.
Canadian peas have been leaving the country at an average rate of about 311,000 tonnes/month during the first half of the crop year, says Dutton.
Canadian pea stocks at the end of Dec. came in at 1.5 million tonnes, according to Statistics Canada data, which is nearly 700,000 tonnes below the five-year average for that time of year. When things such as seed, domestic usage, and ending stocks of only 100,000 tonnes are factored in, there are only 150,000 tonnes/month of exportable peas available, said Dutton, noting that monthly exports have not dipped below that point once during the past five years.
Seems all summer I was saying that the pea crop was a disaster. Other farmers that usually have a real big crop also reported problems. Ah but not in Canada where everything is done in Tec Color. Crop reporting is a science of Bull Shit.
So with all the experts saying their would be a great pea crop the prices for fall of 2014 nose dived to $5.75 because we have such a huge crop coming. BLAH BLAH BLAH.
Then harvest started contracts had to be filled guys bought out contracts etc. etc. Oh shit were out of peas Magical or was this a great big scam like so many others.
All I'm trying to say is were Bull shit over and over by experts telling us what's going on yet your only really a expert on any given day.
Good Reporting with Good information is what's needed in both crop production and what's happening in Rail and grain sales off the coast plus grade class and where its going to.
We have to report why not force the rest of the industry to show their cards.
Happy Hump day. Ah Farming.

[bucket]

What do they call the crop tour in the states where they physically count cobs and pods and heads?

We need that in canada. And soon.

[SASKFARMER3]

jd crop tour where experts farmers etc go out and blitz the mid west and come up with yield.
anything is better than the shit show we have now.

[bucket]

Oops...... I got out of the tin foil today thinking about a transparent open market in canada.

[SASKFARMER3]

Wouldn't that be nice. Reporting what's going on in Canada. ah but no lets make farmers tell everything so the industry has all the cards.

[Hopalong]

One suggestion has been to make crop insurance information public and freely available.
Can understand grainco reluctance to go to extra work of reporting unless they are paid for it.
Even USDA has trouble getting figures right, let's have more ideas on how a system might work and who is willing to pay for cost of it.
Another check off?

[farmaholic]

Are Crop Insurance and Agristability, insurance programs or information of crop production collection programs?

Why is it so important the "Industry" and government know what production was?

[bucket]

Provincial crop insurance could send the cumulative data to statscan.

Apparently legislatively they can't do that.

That would be one easy change. If it was part of a report released without previous looks like the usda reports.

Between statscan and TPOs farmers are ****ed thinking they have a functioning open market.

Someone hurry up and send me some tin foil. Thanks .The dumb****led farmer.

[farmaholic]

TPO...Target Price Order?

[bucket]

With a stack of TPOs on the desk, graincos never have to use the exchanges for bidding for grain. They feel out the end user for what they are willing to pay and pull the orders to match the sale.


End users or graincos never have the risk of pricing on the exchange. They pushed the risk to the farmers and used their bins as well.

TDFF

[TASFarms]

Peas and lentils should be high priced for years to come. This year proved we can't grow a big crop of them unless there is new way of fighting root rot

[bucket]

Tasfarms

Very good point as the only cure for these rots currently is longer rations.

Sure hope the end users know this and bid accordingly.

[SASKFARMER3]

Funny thing a few years back the rains were very bad in may and June then July was nice and then again they hit in august. Best pea crop ever. I think it has a lot to do with rain. Over abundance like last year all year you have shitty peas.

[furrowtickler]

I will challenge that longer rotation theory. There are many more factors than just cool wet soil or short rotations. But they were two of the bigger factors in most cases but not all.
One local farmer grows just peas/wheat. Root rot was evident in many fields around here but not in their peas. But they seed peas later - end of May/early June and use very light rates of herbicides.

Root rot fungus - all of them - love cool/wet but there were peas on short rotations around here that were just fine in very wet and cool soil conditions for the critical two weeks after germination, they were pre tilled and/or had seed placed fertility.
-Pre tillage and higher available soil fertility were huge factors in reducing root rot severity.
-Root rot was far worse on heavy wheat stubble than anything else.
-In crop herbicide injury due to low overnight temps increased root rot incidence significantly in fields with low available nutrients and heavy straw.
- Peas in pre worked and higher fertility areas within fields with short rotations were fine even with root rot fungus present in tissue samples. These areas also did not exhibit herbicide injury. The rest of the peas were dead within a week after herbicide application.
- Herbicide spray misses also exhibited less root rot issues in some fields.

"The Rack" did an extensive study on root rot, fertility, and herbicide injury on peas in this area. They have the report available if you wish to contact them.

- In short I believe, and I could be wrong, that peas can be grown in 3-4 year rotations in average to wet years with selective tillage, fertility and carefull herbicide timing and selection. But if wet conditions turn to flooding rains as some have seen first hand (s/f,freewheat), it will be all for not. If conditions turn drier , we may not see root rot issues pop up but selective tillage and fertility will not hurt - more like insurance.
Hard core zero tillers may buck the idea, that's fine, but it has created a perfect environment for a disease outbreak with the combo of zero till and high moisture - many on here from eastern Sask again have seen this first hand.
- So yes longer pea rotations will be required if conditions remain wetter than normal, you use no fertility in peas and want to remain absolute zero till.