From Tom, Isabelle, Denis, and John, we wish you a very joyous holiday season and a prosperous and healthy new year 2001.
The universe changes and so does the team at Homestead Organics. Mike Larsson left the company in the fall of 2000 to pursue other opportunities. Therefore, Tom Manley (the owner) will take over the grain purchases, sales and grading.
Isabelle Masson, answers the phone, serves you in the retail store, manages the transaction certificates, keeps the books and writes the checks. We are happy that Denis Hart continues in feed processing. Doug Bryski left for health reasons and we wish him good luck in his life-long career - institutional cooking. Nicole Bryski left in early January 2001. Isabelle took over the retail store while we all share the burden of maintenance and cleanliness.
We am now hiring a full time person, John Badger in February 2001, in production: receiving, shipping, and cleaning grains, along with bagging grains and feeds.
As of January 2001, food grade soybeans are steady at about $550 because of good supplies in the mid-west USA and from China and South America. Organic buckwheat is mostly going into the conventional market at $300.
The New England organic dairy production is driving feed grains. There is also a strong demand among consumers for organic meat and poultry. So feed grains are up slightly to $210 from last year. Feed grade soybeans are tight this year with prices heading for $500 this spring 2001.
Despite the poor weather in Eastern Canada, easy transportation means that local problems do not affect global prices. However, the local grain supplies are insufficient. We will be importing about half of our feed grains this coming year and paying extra for brokerage and transportation.
With the lack of local crops this year, the cost of importing grains will impact the price of feeds. Over the past three years, we have constantly improved the quality of the feed with excellent grains, flax meal, flax oil, and some protein increases. We have decided not to sacrifice the quality of the product despite the increased input cost.
We will publish the full details in our new price list this winter. For the moment, you can plan on an increase of $1 or $2 per bag for all products. Secondly, the fuel price increase has affected the cost of shipping the product to distant locations. Actual shipping costs will be passed along to the dealers and their retail price will vary from one location to another.
(Note: as of March 2001, we increased feed prices by 22% to account for the high cost of organic corn and feed soybeans. See the price list for details.)
As explained last spring, we are operating a marketing pool. 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.
We are now sending out payments for the last quarter of 2000. For food soybeans, we were able to secure a reliable market, hence the price is stable and the pool is being paid in full at this time. In feed grains, we have a growing market but no contracted sales, so the price is subject to change over the year and payments can be spread over several months.
The listed price is the top price: landed in Berwick, paid on the net weight, subject to drying charges and low grade discounts; storage charges ($20/mt) apply when received before Dec 1st or Jan 1st for corn.
I cannot emphasize it enough: respect your soil and your crop rotation first. If you need a light feeder row crop, then soybeans remain your first choice. There is a strong reliable market for food soybeans and we need a large volume of feed soybeans.
If you need a grass and you have lots of nitrogen, then we desperately need more corn. If you have medium nitrogen availability, then the market asks for more hard red spring wheat for milling. Barley and oats are also needed in considerable amounts and you still need adequate nitrogen.
Next fall, try some spelt on well-drained land. Rye is appreciated in limited amounts. Legume hay is an important nitrogen builder before corn and a great weed suppressor, but don't count on an organic market for it.
We will have the usual inventory of seed for your crops. It is important that you order early because I must be conservative with my orders to avoid carrying inventory into the next year. Watch our Spring newsletter for more details on seed. Organically produced seed is strongly recommended but the deadline is delayed until 2003.
We have confirmed the value of flax meal in all livestock feeds so we have secured a good supply for the next 6 months. We put it in all our mixed feeds and some dairy farmers buy it separately as a feed top dressing. We are also well stocked on organic flax oil for feed, well know for the Omega 3 essential fatty acids and a good energy source.
In order to stretch our feed soybeans supply, we will stock feed peas, about 22% protein and an excellent supplement for dairy cows. The first load will arrive from Saskatchewan in mid-January. We will use it in most mixes and offer it for sale separately.
For the field or garden, we now carry a wide variety of fertility products: hydrolyzed fish, liquid kelp, dry kelp, gypsum, Calphos. Consider oilseed meals as a nitrogen supplement in spring tillage.
Are fertility and organic matter serious challenges for you? Manure can go a long way to resolving these challenges. Ideally, you need animals in your crop rotation.
Otherwise, you may consider obtaining manure elsewhere. I know of at least one organic dairy farmer who made the comment that he may have too much manure.
Burnbrae Farms, a large conventional egg producer in Lyn Ontario, near Brockville, offers truckloads of chicken manure with transportation. They claim that the manure is drug and hormone free. You need to compost it in accordance with organic standards. But the high nitrogen content of chicken manure will require a large proportion of straw for effective composting. You must verify compliance with your organic certifier.
To know more about availability and costs, call Richard Hanna, Burnbrae Farms, 613-341-2029.
Canadian Organic Growers (Ottawa) works hard linking producers and consumers. We are publishing our annual organic food directory for Eastern Ontario and Western Québec. It will include producers, retailers, processors, distributors, and CSAs who provide food directly to consumers. The directory is distributed free to about 4000 people: COG Ottawa members, the COG booth during public events, Homestead Organics' mailing list, community centers, organic retail locations, health centers, and the Internet. While you have missed the deadline for 2001, please contact Tom at Homestead in December to join the 2002 list.