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MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2021
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VOLUME 52, ISSUE 9
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OYEN, ALBERTA
Rising commodity prices are good news for ag producers JOAN JANZEN joanjanzen@yahoo.com
Work crews continue to dismantle the pipeline camp on the west side of Oyen. The modular suites are being separated and prepared for transport. | PHOTO BY DIANA WALKER
TC Energy dismantling camp at Oyen JOAN JANZEN joanjanzen@yahoo.com
The cancellation of the Keystone XL project is negatively impacting thousands of Canadians. Some of those Canadians were workers housed at the camp located at Oyen, Alberta. Calgary-based TC Energy estimates the cancellation will eliminate thousands of union worker jobs. However construction workers on the pipeline became familiar faces in the small Alberta town of Oyen. One of the construction workers on the pipeline had been staying at the home of Oyen’s Mayor, Doug Jones. This employee, like so many others, was disappointed when the work was abruptly shut down. Terry Cunha of TC Energy commented on the shut down. “The process will take a few months. We will be wrapping up construction activities. Activities along the right-of-way will include tie-ins, backfilling and clean-up of the 146 km of pipeline installed between Bindloss and Monitor in Alberta. We will also wrap up activities at our pump station sites. Following that, we will ensure that the installed infrastructure is safe and secure and that we properly demobilize from our
construction sites prior to the planned seasonal pause. We will also be returning with crews in the summer of 2021 to complete all clean-up and restoration work on the right-of-way.” Meanwhile in Oyen, work crews continue to dismantle the pipeline camp on the west side of town. The modular suites are being separated and are being prepared for transport. Oyen business owners will surely miss serving the hundreds of tradespeople who had temporarily moved to the area to work on the project. Many business owners in Oyen are disappointed with the decision to shut down the pipeline, as it will also have a negative impact on their places of business. There is already considerably less vehicles parked downtown in Oyen since the project was cancelled. Terry Cunha said, “Obviously, we are very disappointed by the decision, and have suspended activities. We would like to thank our supporters who share our disappointment, including our partners, the Government of Alberta and Natural Law Energy. We would also like to thank the labour leaders and regulatory agencies who helped advance the project.”
Watch for our Ag Safety Week edition March 15th!
After a long year in 2020, most people are looking for good news in 2021. Fortunately, agriculture producers on the prairies have been the recipients of some very good news, in the form of rising commodity prices. “The price of commodities right now haven’t been this high in ages,” Laurie Kelly who farms in the Brock area, said. “It looks really good for locking prices in for next year’s crop.” Canola prices have been steadily rising, with prices rising higher than they have been in over a decade. Government data reveals that Canada has already exported 33 percent more canola year-to-date over last year. Commodity brokers say prices lasts year at this time were around $10, and now prices have reached $16 a bushel, which prices reaching as high as $16.25 a bushel. These unheard of rising prices are a result of China stockpiling canola oil and canola meal and other agricultural commodities during the pandemic. Most farmers had sold over half their canola before the prices began to rise, but others who have canola remaining are able to cash in on the current high prices. However Canola prices aren’t the only commodity to rise 11 percent above the five-year average. The forecast is for spring wheat prices to do equally as well, rising 16 percent above the five-year average, and durum wheat is also seven percent higher than the five-year average. Feed barley, flax and oats are also seeing significantly higher prices. These prices cause producers to become more optimistic for the near future. Alan Chiliak from Redwing Farms Ltd. near Oyen said, “When we get more for our products than we had anticipated, it really helps our short term management, as we now have surplus funds to maybe pay off some long-term debt, or maybe push up a planned capital purchase, or perhaps try for a bit more production next year with more inputs to produce a better crop. Many farmers look at opportunities like this to try to acquire more land so they can grow more, which leads to demand for farmland.” On the other hand Chiliak noted these higher prices are usually followed by corresponding rising costs for the commodities farmers use in their production. He observed that higher grain prices almost always result in higher fertilizer and fuel prices, and often lead to lower prices for cattle, as grain is used to feed the cattle to finish weights. According to the Farm Credit Corporation, commodity prices look promising for the short term as most major grains will continue to see strong prices in the first half of 2021, while harvest and weather events will determine prices during the last half.
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