Another harvest arrives!

It is that time of year again. We look forward to a good harvest, at least to compensate for the disappointment last year. Although the fall and spring cereals look fine, we are concerned about the corn and soybeans that were overtaken by weeds in May and that are thirsty for water by mid-summer. With a little faith and a favourable destiny, they should still pull through. We wish you all good luck with your harvest.

ORGANIC Market Upswing!

The major phenomenon this year is the strong growth of organic animal products including dairy, pork, poultry, beef. Our feed sales have almost doubled since last year. The US dairy market is starved for organic feed grains; the Europeans are desperate as well. The human consumption of organic soybeans is stable, so we have been roasted food grade soybeans for feed, at the food grade price.

Secondly, the drought in western Canada is affecting the supply of milling grains. Hard red spring wheat for bread will be premium priced this year. Spelt is the only slow dog in the race. With a large carryover from 2000, we suggest storage until 2002.

Here are some prices for grain crops:

And so go Feed Prices!

With the lack of local crops last year, the cost of importing grains impacted the price of feeds. Therefore, our feed prices went up significantly this spring, 22% on the bagged products. Then the overall market rise pushed up our costs again, but we held our prices and worked with lower margins for the second half of summer.

As the new crop arrives, we will save on transportation fees and re-align our costs with our current prices. However, the continuing strong market for feed grains gives us little hope of reducing our feed prices significantly in the near future. We know that our customers appreciate some price stability and we therefore will not juggle the prices with short-term information. It will take a few months to judge where feed prices are going. Nevertheless, we rely on you to make that judgment; please keep us abreast of competitive prices on crops and feeds.

Our Marketing Pools are Working!

Our formalized marketing pool worked fairly well last year. Crop producers received 1, 2 or 3 payments for their crops while the price at each payment rose with the market price. Some pools paid out earlier than others. Because of a poor crop, the food grade soybean pool made only one total payment in December. The low quality corn crop had to be blended with imports, so that pool lasted until August. The feed cereals were paid by June.

Again this year, your crop is pooled with other producers. We pay each producer a portion of his/her delivery in proportion to the volume sold during each quarter. The price paid during each quarter is the average of the price obtained from the market. There are exceptions when grain may be moved directly from the farm to a wholesale market at terms and conditions outside the pool.

The listed price is the top price: landed by you in Berwick, paid on the net weight, subject to drying charges, low grade discounts, marketing board fees on corn and soybeans in Ontario, and storage charges if received before Nov 1st for cereals, Dec 1st for soybeans and Jan 1st for corn.

Winter Cereals & Cover Crops

I cannot emphasize it enough: respect your soil and your crop rotation. Fall seeding plays such an important role in carbon retention, microbial life, soil tilth, nutrient cycling and weed suppression. Fall crops are among the best investments for your farm's long term profitability. It can save you a lot of headaches and workload over the years.

This fall, try some spelt on well-drained land - $19 per 55 pounds, 175 pounds per acre. It is the most valuable crop, but the least winter hardy. Rye is appreciated in limited amounts. It is the least valuable crop but the most winter hardy. We are not interested in soft winter wheat because SW Ontario produces so much of it. But we will use hard winter wheat in feeds.

A new alternative is triticale - seed price to be determined. We are promoting it as a feed grain to supplement corn as farmers are avoiding corn because of GMO contamination. This year, a few farmers are trying spring triticale and we will pay the corn price for it. Please consider some fall triticale, although it is too early for us to talk about the crop price next year. We are told that its winter hardiness is somewhere between that of rye and spelt.

In addition, we can help you with a full choice of cover crops:

- rye for spring plow down, $10 per 55 pounds, 120 pounds per acre.

- buckwheat for weed suppression and soil tilth, $38.75 per 88 pounds, 60 pounds per acre.

- red clover for nitrogen fixation, $77 per 55 pounds, 15 pounds per acre.

- oil radish for soil penetration, $55 per 55 pounds, 15 pounds per acre.

Please note that we are looking for a new crop of red clover and oil radish - please call.

Fall Soil Amendments!

For the field or garden, we now carry a wide variety of fertility products: hydrolyzed fish, liquid kelp, dry soluble kelp, gypsum, calcium phosphate (soft rock phosphate), Greensand, paramagnetic rock, boron, kelp fertilizer mix. Consider oilseed meals as a nitrogen supplement in fall tillage.

Do You Need Cash?

The Agricultural Commodity Corporation and some of the commodity marketing boards offer interest free loans and crop advance payments. If you are strapped for cash for spring seeding and fall harvest, then get details from www.agcommcorp.org or 1-519-766-0397.

Take action now to certify.

Until this year, OCPP, one of Ontario's leading organic certifiers was accepting certification requests from new clients at the last minute. This policy is changing to abide by international certification rules; other certifiers had already made this change in recent years.

Organic farmers must register for transition the year BEFORE their first year of certification. That includes both farmers who are in transition after having used agro-chemicals and farmers who want to certify land that has been organically management (or unused) for many years.

If you have any desire to certify for the first time next year, then you must apply this year for transition. It is not expensive, so it may be a good investment if you are not sure of your intentions for next year.

Invest in Storage

The market cannot consume and pay for the year's crop at harvest time. SOMEONE must store it. As a grain producer, you would need many storage bins for your crop rotation. Consider the cost of the bin, the auger, electricity, time to load the bin and time to unload the bin. It could be more economical to rent storage space and invest your capital.

Homestead offers a shared storage for organic field crops. At only 25$ per tonne for the season, it is quite reasonable and flexible when compared to on-farm storage. It also includes aeration to reduce moisture by 2% to acceptable levels for storage. We have bins for corn, feed and food soybeans, feed wheat, HRS milling wheat, conventional buckwheat (no storage charge), oats, barley, triticale, rye, spelt. But space is limited, so you must reserve before harvest so that we avoid disappointments when your truck arrives.

We need financing to build more storage. We are seeking private loans of any amount for fixed terms at 7% to 8% simple interest per year. The loan is a non-secured promissory note, payable with interest at the end of the term. Investors obtain priority access to storage space for their crops.

Grain Transportation

Last year, we learned exactly how expensive it is to operate a truck - hats off to the carriers. Consequently, we parked our large feed truck and we use the small dump truck only for local trips to the bins that we rent off site. We even decided not to replace our red cube van when its safety certificate expired. We are out of the transportation business for both bulk grains and feeds.

For local bag deliveries, call the Metcalfe Feed Store at 821-0145. For bulk loads up to 16 tonnes, Kevin Heuser from Spencerville covers parts of Eastern Ontario: 498-9026. The Finch Coop, 984-2450, is looking for return trips from Renfrew County on Saturday's. Other feeds mills come to us: Dixie and Egan, 924-2632, from Picton, Belleville and Brockville, Dodds & Erwin from Perth & Smith Falls, Alexandria Milling from Alexandria. For the larger loads, we suggest Ted Morin in Finch, 984-2363; For long distances, call us for other referrals.

IMPORTANT: You must sweep out all trucks thoroughly before loading organic grains. Contamination is not tolerated.

How much do you weigh?

We are not a 10,000 tonne elevator yet, but we are working on it. So we cannot yet afford a truck scale. Please scale full on your way here. Here are a few options:

- From the North: Embrun Coop.

- From the North-East: St-Albert Coop.

- From the East & South: Rutters on Rd 43 between Finch & Chesterville.

- From the West: Winchester Elevators.

Field Signs Available

Canadian Organic Growers (Ottawa Chapter) still has several fence signs to identify certified organic field crops, market gardens, or livestock. It will set an example for conventional farmers to show that organic methods do work and that there are more organic acres than they had imagined. Call me if you wish to post the sign. They are free.

International Plowing Match

Navan, Ont - Sept 18th-22nd 2001.

The IPM is the leading agriculture event in Ontario, attracting over 200,000 visitors. It is ideal to reach a combination of farmers and consumers. COG & EFAO will establish a large area to promote organic agriculture.

This is your opportunity to reach a large interested public. You can join other related businesses in the organic farming tent to sell your product and promote your business.

For information or to reserve a booth, contact Rob Wallbridge, 613-774-2923 or rob.wallbridge@eudoramail.com.

FEAST OF FIELDS 2001

Sunday, September 9th, Noon - 4PM

Lakeside Gardens, Britania Park, Ottawa

Debbie DeCooman, coordinator, 613-448-3540

Tickets: $35/Single, $65/Couple, $20/Seniors,

$20/children 12-18, Under 12 - Free

$110/Family (2 adults & 3 children,12-18)

You can get tickets from Homestead Organics or other retailers and restaurants in Ottawa.

The Ottawa Chapter of COG's annual fundraiser is a Great Organic Feast promoting organic food at harvest time and celebrating everyone's talent with a fun filled day for the whole family.

Taste the finest organic food prepared by renowned Chefs while enjoying the entertainment and bidding at the silent auction

*** Producers, Chefs, Vendors, and Environmentalists wanting to promote organic food and show their commitment to sustainable agriculture, reserve a booth soon.