Farm commodity price comparison

The Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture has a spot on its website where it posts historical farm commodity prices. It’s interesting to compare prices with where they were a year ago. There are a few crops, such as large green lentils, where the price is actually a bit higher than a year ago, but on most crops, prices are substantially lower. Here are some of the comparisons that jump out. Currently, the price of flax is just over $8 a bushel. A year ago at this time, it was nearly $11. Yellow mustard is selling for about 25 cents a pound right now, while a year ago it was more than 37 cents. Yellow peas are selling for around $5 a bushel, which is about a dollar a bushel less than a year ago. D1 and D2 cows are a bit higher than a year ago. Feeder cattle prices are also a bit stronger. Hog prices have improved in recent months, but the price a year ago was actually better than the current price. However, about a year ago the pork industry was hit with all the negative publicity of H1N1 flu being inappropriately called swine flu and that ended the rally. Hopefully, the current rally has some staying power. The value of the Canadian dollar is a lot different than a year ago. We’re currently approaching par with the American greenback. A year ago, we were only around 80 cents. I’m Kevin Hursh.