Saskatchewan farmers usually pray for rain in June -- now, they just want the rain to stop.

Between June 9 and 11, another 50 to 75 millimetres of rain fell over much of the province's grain growing regions. Some areas, hit by strong thunderstorms, reported in excess of 100 millimetres. Environment Canada says it was the eighth significant rainfall event in Saskatchewan since the start of April.

The soil is saturated and additional rain is pooling up. Crops in lower areas are starting to drown under water. There is growing concern about the viability of some seeded crops.  

Saskatchewan Agriculture says 73 per cent of the provincial crop has been seeded, up only three per cent from last week.

Seeded crop by region:

•  northwest: 90 per cent,
• southwest: 88 per cent,
• west central: 87 per cent,
• southeast: 75 per cent,
• east central: 56 per cent,
• northeast: 50 per cent.

Tiffany Martinka, an agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of Canada says around Melfort, there is one acre underwater for every acre seeded.

Crop development is at least seven to 10 days behind normal. Saskatchewan Agriculture says 77 per cent of spring seeded cereals, 78 per cent of oilseeds and 67 per cent of pulse are behind their normal growth stages.

Premier Brad Wall and Agriculture Minister Bob Bjornerud toured the hardest hits areas of northeast Saskatchewan on June 14. They were accompanied by David Marit, president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities.

"It was a humbling day to hear these guys (farmers) talk about the losses they are going to incur," Marit says. "When you fly in a plane as long as we did and see nothing but water, you know there will be a huge impact."  

Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz toured the waterlogged farmland near Wishart on Wednesday afternoon. In a news release, Ritz says crop insurance and Agri-Stability are the "first lines of defense and the best way to deliver help fast." Federal and provincial officials are working together on this, he says.

The losses will not stop at the farmgate. Seed, fertilizer and pesticide companies will also see lower than expected revenues.    

The record wet spring has finally awakened grain and oilseed markets. The July canola futures contract in Winnipeg closed at $428.10 a metric tonne in the afternoon of June 16. It rose $29.70 a tonne between June 14 and June 16. Since June 4, the July canola contract has increased $52.20 a tonne.

The wet weather is also impacting a large part of expected western Canadian oat production. Randy Strychar with OatInsight.com says nearly 95 per cent of Saskatchewan's oat production is being threatened by the rain-related seeding delays. With an estimated 20 per cent of Manitoba's oat crops experiencing flooding trouble as well, Strychar says there could be a serious impact on futures prices.

Canola producers will be able to export their 2010 canola crops to China. Contracts can be established immediately, says the federal government.

Last November, China imposed a quarantine order to block the importation of Canadian canola seed testing positive for the presence of blackleg, a fungal disease which can reduce canola yields. At that time, Canada negotiated transitional measures for the 2009 crop year. Today’s announcement is an extension of that temporary import agreement for the 2010 crop.

The federal government says the extension of the agreement will allow the Canadian canola industry to pursue the signing of contracts with their Chinese importers for the 2010 crop year, which begins in August.

The Canola Council of Canada is applauding the news. 

"The extension will allow Canadian farmers some access to China for the 2010 crop," says CCC president JoAnne Buth. "While the extension keeps the door slightly open to China, it doesn’t open it any wider. We still have only very limited access, so we will continue to work with China to address their blackleg concerns and to restore full trade."

The CCC says Canada is undertaking co-operative studies with China to analyze ways to mitigate the transfer of blackleg to China’s crop, and to undertake dairy feed trials to increase the value of canola meal in China.

China was Canada's largest canola seed market in 2008-09 at 2.8 million tonnes. Under current restrictions, Canada’s access is limited to 1.4 to 1.5 million tonnes annually. As of April 2010, Canada had shipped 1.62 million tonnes in 2009-10, just over 1 million tonnes before Nov. 15, 2009.

Canadian beef producers continue to watch the progress of two separate trade complaints filed through the World Trade Organization.

The first involves the United States government's mandatory country of origin labelling on grocery stores' meat and produce.   Canada and Mexico believe COOL is a technical trade barrier that restricts market access. Both countries say the labelling requirements are a violation of international trade law.

The three member WTO panel is led by a Swiss diplomat, who is a veteran of other dispute settlement panels. The initial submissions are due June 23, with the oral hearing likely to take place in September.

The President of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, Travis Toews is not anticipating a quick outcome.

"We would expect probably a decision by the panel sometime in the new year," he says. "Hopefully, it is closer to January than June, but this is going to take some time."

The other WTO case involves South Korea, which has refused to open its borders to Canadian beef since a BSE case was reported in May 2003. Canada maintains that the continuing ban is not based on international standards or on science.

A WTO dispute settlement panel has heard the initial arguments in the case and Toews is confident about the outcome.

"We've heard some things that would lead us to believe that Korea may be willing to settle this ahead of the decision," he says.

When asked what he would be willing to settle for, Toews says a good first step would be access for bone-in beef under 30 months. He adds such a measure would be "commercially meaningful" as a transition to eventual full access.

South Korea purchased $50 million worth of Canadian beef in 2002, which made it the fourth largest export market.

Ever since 1995 when Timothy McVeigh used 40 bags of ammonium nitrate to build a bomb that killed 168 people in an Oklahoma City federal government, authorities everywhere have been on high alert for unusual purchases of large quantities of fertilizer.

With G8 and G20 summits soon coming to Canada, it was feared earlier this month that another terrorism plot might be underway when a farm supply store in southern Ontario told police of a suspicious purchase.

A man who said he represented a farmer paid cash for 1,500 kilograms of fertilizer, rather than put the purchase on the farmer's account. Store officials were concerned and called authorities.  

After an investigation, however, it turned out the purchase was legitimate. According to police, who recovered the fertilizer at two residences in Toronto, it was "likely a gardening incident".

Despite this being a false alarm, though, the incident was a red flag for the farming community. The Canadian Association of Agri-Retailers, which represents crop input businesses across Canada, warned that overall, a public threat still exists. Essential crop inputs such as fertilizer are vulnerable to criminal and terrorist acts, says David MacKay, president of the Winnipeg-based association.

"Regardless of the outcome, this incident should remind us to remain vigilant, knowing that potential threats do exist and that terrorists will persist in trying to acquire what are normally benign agricultural products and misuse them for destructive purposes," he says.

MacKay also says the threat has not diminished, and called for inputs that are critical to crop production in Canada to be secured. Terrorists and others "won't always walk through the front door" to get such inputs for nefarious purposes, he states, and hoped the federal government would assist in a comprehensive, national plan to make inputs secure.   

"Notwithstanding the threat to the Canadian public, farmers and retailers can ill afford to lose these products to reactive over-regulation following a terrorist incident," he says.

The association has proposed a $100 million integrated crop input security protocol for Canada's 1,500 agri-retail sites across Canada. This would include perimeter fencing, surveillance and alarm devices, lighting, locks, software and staff training in various security techniques.

Founders of a new farmers' group in Quebec say they want to offer a choice to the province's producers.

"Farmers are entrepreneurs who need services that respond to the unique needs of their activities," says Gilles Brouillard, a commercial grain grower and president of the new Conseil des entrepreneurs agricole. "But the singular vision and actions of the (Union des producteurs agricole) doesn't allow that to happen."

Founded in Montreal on June 3, the new group is an initiative of three provincial farmers' federations -- cash crop producers, market garden growers and maple syrup processors -- with roughly 1,000 producer members in total.

It is also a follow-up to a coalition the three groups launched last fall, Coalition pour la liberté d'association en agriculture au Québec, or CLAAQ. The group publicly called for an end to the unionized approach to farming in Quebec and umbrella representation by Union des producteurs agricole.

According to Brouillard, both initiatives have received widespread support from industry.

He says producers have contacted him asking for broader representation and are seeking to move away from practices like collective marketing.

"Agriculture has become so diversified and specialized in the (last) 38 years," he says.

Other groups have formed in recent years. In 2008, a provincial report on the future of farming in the province recommended a more diversified voice for Quebec agriculture producers, stating the need to ensure the healthy development of farming in the province.

The provincial government is expected to address the formation of another umbrella farm organization later this year -- and the Union des producteurs agricole has stated it will stage province-wide protests if another farm organization is approved.

Alberta crop and forage producers can now purchase straight hail insurance any time of the day by using the new online access provided on the Agriculture Financial Services Corporation website.

Farmers wanted the option to buy insurance around the clock in response to weather forecasts without the need to contact an agent, says Lorelei Hulston, provincial insurance manager with AFSC.

For example, Hulston says, it may be late on a Saturday night with a hail storm in the forecast. Coverage could be purchased that evening effective Sunday at noon. Waiting until Monday to talk to an agent means no coverage until Tuesday at noon, which may be too late.

According to Hulston, the program has been designed to be user friendly. It has a minimum of graphics so clients with dial-up service shouldn’t have access problems.

Producers must first contact AFSC for an activation code to log on to the straight hail website. First-time users will need to supply a user identification and password.

Land details will already be keyed in for users who have purchased hail or crop insurance through AFSC. Then, it is a matter of selecting which land to insure and adding the hail-related details.

Choices on the dollar amount per acre, the type of deductible and previous hail damage are entered, with the option of selecting multiple fields. Once completed, the program moves to the pay page, with details of the premium and dollar coverage.

Effective this week, Hulston notes producers will have the option of paying by credit card or applying the total to their AFSC account balance.

Users who have not purchased hail or crop insurance through AFSC in the past can get their land details keyed in at the time they are assigned their activation code.

For more information, please call AFSC at 1-877-899-AFSC.

Agriculture Canada research scientist Dr. John DeLong is urging farmers to consider growing fiddleheads.

Fiddleheads -- the curled-up fronds of the wild ostrich fern -- have long been prized as a spring-time delicacy in the Maritimes and parts of Ontario and Quebec. The plants grow in wet areas along riverbanks and streams, and are typically wild-harvested.

DeLong thinks fiddleheads should have a bright future as commercial crops for two reasons: they have high nutritional value and wild-harvesting may not be able to continue to satisfy demand.

DeLong says he and the other collaborators on his research team were "surprised" to find what a nutritional powerhouse fiddleheads are. He says they offer double the anti-oxidant activity of blueberries along with a unique complement of good-for-you omega-3 fatty acids.

"There are certain fatty acids that are found in fish and are simply not found in plants -- but fiddleheads are an exception," says DeLong, who works out of the Atlantic Food and Horticulture Research Centre in Kentville, N.S.

That nutritional profile could make fiddleheads attractive to commercial growers.

"There is a real economic opportunity over and above what we have now," DeLong says. "Right now it's really a cottage industry. People go out and wild-harvest them -- and that's fine. Right now, you're not destroying habitat or messing up the ecosystem. But as demand grows, so could pressure on wild stands. Instead, fiddleheads could be a more intensely managed cash crop."

DeLong thinks "a naturalized setting" could be the best way to grow fiddleheads. That's exactly what NorCliff Farms in Port Colborne, Ont. is doing. Owners Nick Secord and Nina DiLorenzo are growing fiddleheads on 40 acres of low-lying marshland that mimics the plants' natural environment. DeLong says they control moisture in the growing area through the use of a dam.

"There hasn't been a lot of work done on the economics yet," DeLong says. "But there would be quite an initial capital outlay in labour. First, you have to find the crowns and transplant them. If they're on your own land then you're fine, but if they're on Crown land you'd have to make sure you're not violating any statutes. And then there's digging and hauling them. Once they are established, there shouldn't be a lot of costs, other than picking them in a timely fashion."

DeLong points out that it may be possible to cultivate fiddleheads using traditional horticultural methods as well, but intensive irrigation would probably be required.

"I love fiddleheads." DeLong says. "I'm a big fan of doing whatever we can to make them more accessible and to turn them into a cash crop."

A new Farm Credit Canada Vision Panel survey shows that about half of Canadian producers -- 54 per cent -- surveyed have caught the social media bug, using at least one network. And, producers say they plan to increase the amount of time they spend using social media in the future.

“We wanted to obtain information about the growing trend toward social media use -- whether and how producers were incorporating it in their operations,” explains Dan Bergen, FCC Chief Operating Officer. “Producers have always adopted new technology to grow their business, so it was interesting to find out how they were using this new information channel.”

“While the survey showed that producers who use social media are much more likely to use it for personal (54 per cent) versus business reasons (30 per cent), there are opportunities to incorporate social media into a number of areas -- such as research, making business connections and promoting agriculture as an important part of society and the economy,” says Kellie Garrett, FCC Senior Vice-President, Strategy, Knowledge and Reputation.

Four in ten producers who are online, or 44 per cent, state that they spent more time using social media this year compared to last year. Forty three per cent of non-users say they don’t have the time or they don’t see value in using social media (30 per cent). Age is a driving factor in determining whether or not a producer uses social media. When using social media for personal use, Facebook is the application most commonly used by producers.

The survey was sent to 1,636 Vision panelists, including both primary producers and agriculture-related businesses. Of these, 883 completed the survey, translating to a 54 per cent response rate.

Full results are available at www.fccvision.ca/research.

Farm commodity markets have generally traded higher over the past week, between June 9 and 16. American corn, soybean and wheat market activity has been rather sluggish, though, as favourable U.S. weather offset constructive external market influences (higher energy and stock markets).

Canadian ag markets have responded with a more bullish bias given persistent weather-related problems inflicting seeding delays for Western Canada and water-logged stress to early crop development.

Canola 
Winnipeg canola futures have spiked higher in the period June 2 to June 16, gaining almost $40 a tonne on the futures with cash basis tightening. Inspiring the rally are positive chart formations and growing recognition that Prairie crop size has indeed shrunk. Speculators are into the process of jumping on board.

Chartwise, near-term targets on the November are near the $427.50 to $432.50 a tonne area. Given the level of panic currently embedded in the market, I am not willing to say it won't get there. Sub-$380's are likely a very distant memory now and breaks should be well supported, but I strongly believe some type of "blow-off" top is coming.

Canola cash prices have strengthened to the $9 a bushel range. Price spreads between canola and soybeans have widened out considerably and canola crush margins are plunging, so there is a limit to how high canola prices can run independently.
 
This acreage cutback for Western Canada is obviously having a bullish effect on markets, pushing prices up about $1 a bushel from the recent lows when all is factored in. That likely will ration out two million tonnes of demand as buyers switch to cheaper soy or palm, which are not rallying.

But the rally potential has limitations.

To move beyond $10 a bushel, we are going to need continued problems for the crop that managed to get into the ground here, but more importantly, problems must develop for the Midwest bean crop (which looks in great shape right now).

So then, without a bean crop threat, I would think $430 or so November futures might be as high as the markets needs to go.

But summer weather, outside market influences and how quickly demand falls off (or not) will determine ultimate price highs. We are all flying by the seat of our pants on this one right now.

Oats
Chicago Board of Trade oat futures exploded higher in this past week. The threat of Canadian oat acreage being cut due to heavy rains delaying seeding served as the main bullish fundamental feature, but there is an element of panic and short-covering by large institutional players.

The U.S. imports almost as much oats as it produces, with the bulk of the imports coming from Canada. The threat of lost production potential from Canada leaves little room for error in U.S. output to cover the domestic needs of American end users.

The market had amassed a large spec short position before the threat of lost Canada output surfaced, so traders that had bet on prices declining further have rushed to cover short positions.

Prices are also up on the cash side. As of June 16, southern Manitoba bids suddenly leaping into $2.40 to $2.50 a bushel territory from below $2.00 a bushel only a week ago. Eastern Saskatchewan bids have moved up as well -- into that $2.25 to 2.35 a bushel area.

Industry estimates are currently forecasting that Canadian oats production could be down by 25 per cent on the year, which would lead to a significant tightening of supplies by the end of the 2010-11 (August-July) crop year. However, nobody really knows to what the extent of the unseeded acres will be. It’s also uncertain how many late seeded acres originally destined for other crops may end up being planted to oats. However, those oats run the risk of being lower quality.

Chicago Board of Trade December oat futures are in the process of discounting Canadian production problems. Spec funds who are covering short positions are doing so in earnest right now. Once this situation subsides, don’t be surprised with downward corrective action.

Other Crops
With all the wet conditions across the west, some markets have turned more bullish, including canary, flax and mustard.

On crops like lentils and canaryseed, buyers are now calling farmers rather than the other way around, and there have been some price increases. Canaryseed that was as low at 12.5 cents a pound a few weeks ago is now being quoted at around 15-16 cents.

Flaxseed has bounced to about $8.50 a bushel.

There’s also a new crop bid of 24 cents for No. 2 large green lentils. Lentil crop conditions are under increased stress -- wet conditions and lentils do not mix well. The buyers are watching this situation with concern. More rain will bring major problems, along with failed contract agreements and an Act of God.

Mike Jubinville of Pro Farmer Canada offers information on commodity markets and marketing strategies. Call 204-654-4290 or visit www.pfcanada.com to find out more about his services.