Canada: Canary seed prices look attractive for new crop year

Low production from last year’s drought and record high prices virtually ensure any farmers with canaryseed in the bin will be vacuuming up every last pound, said Chuck Penner, a commodity markets analyst from Winnipeg. “I would expect that the record high prices that we’ve had this year will have drained most of that unreported canaryseed out of the system,” said Penner of Leftfield Commodity Research. Penner was speaking to the virtual annual general meeting of the Canary Seed Development Commission of Saskatchewan on Jan.10, part of the Saskatchewan Crop Organizations 2022 conference held online and in Saskatoon. Saskatchewan canaryseed growers began 2021 with optimism, sowing 315,000 acres of the crop, Penner said. This was up 40,000 acres more than 2020, according to Statistics Canada. The acres were spread across the province, but plantings were concentrated in the west-central region and southeast of Regina. Blistering heat and extreme drought affected the whole province, ...