COVID-19 impacts on Canadian grains, oilseeds and pulses

Apr 30, 2020

Over the next several weeks, FCC Ag Economics will help you understand the rapidly evolving business environment due to COVID-19. We’re updating our 2020 Grains, Oilseeds, and Pulse Outlook to reflect changes in the operating environment.

Profitability is expected to remain tight in 2020 for grain, oilseed and pulse producers. Price volatility has surged through the first three months due to COVID-19. Lower prices of agriculture commodities have been partially offset by the lower Canadian dollar.

We expect average prices for corn, soybeans and feed barley to be lower than their 2019 averages. While canola, durum, yellow pea, and red lentil prices are expected to average higher than last year, they are still projected to be under their 5-year average. Spring wheat is the only commodity for which the 2020 average price is expected to be higher than the last year and 5-year average levels.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.