MarketsFarm –– Canary seed crop yields may be hampered by dry early summer conditions, and rain that didn’t come quite soon enough.

Saskatchewan’s west-central region, home to the lion’s share of the province’s canary seed crops, received very little rain during the spring and early summer.

“That area was beyond recovery when the rain finally came,” said Kevin Hursh, executive director of the Canaryseed Development Commission of Saskatchewan.

Hursh expects yield potential for canary seed to be lower than average due to the dry conditions.

Prices, similarly, have followed suit. Currently, prices are around 24 to 25 cents/lb.

“It’s not like they’re booming, but that’s the best price we’ve seen in a while,” Hursh said.

“That would seem to indicate the trade thinks supplies might be a bit tighter than they’ve been.”

In mid-June crop conditions were 15 per cent good, 75 per cent fair, nine per cent poor, and one per cent very poor.

By mid-July, conditions had improved slightly to one per cent excellent, 39 per cent good, 50 per cent fair, nine per cent poor and 10 per cent very poor.

— Marlo Glass writes for MarketsFarm, a Glacier FarmMedia division specializing in grain and commodity market analysis and reporting.