MarketsFarm — The chickpea harvest is underway in some areas of the Prairies, including southern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan, where pulse crops were planted earlier due to drier spring weather.
So far, the chickpea crop has seen co-operative weather conditions.
“As we go along with this sunshine and heat, the pulses are coming in very quickly,” Darwin Hamilton of Kalshea Commodities in Winnipeg said.
“Barring any delays, it looks like the next few weeks should be good for harvest.”
The 297,800 chickpea acres planted in the spring are expected to produce a good-quality crop, so long as harvest conditions remain dry.
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As the harvest in southern Alberta presses on, a broker said that is one of the factors pulling feed prices lower in the region. Darcy Haley, vice-president of Ag Value Brokers in Lethbridge, added that lower cattle numbers in feedlots, plentiful amounts of grass for cattle to graze and a lacklustre export market also weighed on feed prices.
Hamilton noted the areas that experienced excess springtime moisture will have a delayed harvest, which may negatively affect quality.
“Hopefully the crop will mature before the bad fall weather rolls around,” he said.
“Chickpeas like the dryness,” he added, noting the instance of disease in the chickpea crop has been vanishingly rare.
Heading into harvest season, chickpea prices have been between 20 and 25 cents/lb. for average-grade old-crop, and around 25 cents/lb. for chickpeas between eight and 10 millimetres in size. Hamilton expected prices to remain steady into the fall.
“I don’t think there’s enough demand to get prices on the upward trend,” he said.
— Marlo Glass reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.
