[Editor’s Note – Dry Bean Situation. Reports from the USA suggest that growers are abandoning dry beans and that a 20% drop in acres is likely. This would seriously impact the supply situation where US domestic canners could go short product.
It has been reported that one canner has come out with a contract price on a full production contract to growers of Kidney beans at USD 50.00 per bag (100 lb.). Given the Canadian dollar is at par, Ontario growers of Kidney beans might expect the same absolute dollar level.
Second hand reports have Ontario white pea bean (WPB) prices to growers quoted at 38.00 dollars per 100 lb. Extrapolation of the US kidney bean price back into Ontario and using a tradition price ratio between Kidneys and WPB suggests the market for WPB may ultimately need to offer growers $40.00/bag.]

The crop budgets are a simple format for estimating expenses. The sample costs are a guide to illustrate a method of preparing your projections. They are based on assumptions including; seeding rates, levels of fertilizer use, etc.
For White Pea Beans they have a projected cost of just over $320 per acre. View the spreadsheet and plug in your own costs click here

On Friday last, the USDA released a surprisingly bullish supply-demand report and markets took off. Chicago futures price charts now look like the arc of the Space Shuttle launch. Leading investment newspapers like Barron’s and New York Times have been carrying articles questioning whether agricultural land prices are in a “bubble”. It would appear outside investment (read hedge funds) in agricultural commodities is pushing prices higher than the supply and demand fundamentals warrant. These higher grain prices are also driving land values higher and possibly beyond the level where future cash flows can sustain inflated land values. The theme is “It’s different this time!”
This time around, pundits predict strong prices and a new higher trading level has been reached and will be around for the foreseeable future. Over the past 30 years, bull markets have often been short lived with prices coming down to the bottom end of their trading range as fast as they went up. The question today is: ‘Where will this “new paradigm” put in a new ‘higher’ bottom end of the trading range?”
Meanwhile soybean futures “in the teens” is forcing the dry edible bean market to re-think the prices needed to keep sufficient acres in production to meet global needs. Some analysts are already on record suggesting there will not be sufficient acres (down 6 to 10 % from 2007 levels) planted to meet demand. In fact the projected Supply and Demand numbers extrapolating acres and trend-line yields shows negative carry-out for 2008 into 2009 for all but a couple of dry bean market classes.
White Pea Beans are presently in the negative category.
Once the acreage battle between the field crop titans has been decided, regardless of how it turns out, there will be

no room for error for any crop.

USDA will release a bevy of report at 8:30 am this morning. On tap is are, the final 2007 crop production estimates ( here ), monthly supply-demand update ( here ), a grain stocks report ( here ) and wheat acreage numbers ( here ).

The crop is forecast at 10.57 million cwt this year, up 38% from last year, the state’s Ag Dept. says. This year’s North Dakota production estimate is just short of a state record. In 2002, farmers in the state produced 10.63 million cwt.
Read more of the story here

Canadian bean exports no longer face tariffs when entering the Mexican market now that a NAFTA phase out period is complete.
There will be opportunities for growers particularly in the pinto and black bean classes, it may come down to whether we can provide the right quality at the right price.
Read more of the story here