Vice President of AgValue Brokers, Darcy Haley, says good barley prices are going to attract more acreage this spring.

Haley says, factors driving these high prices include the low Canadian dollar, high export and domestic demand, and drought concerns in South America, specifically Argentina.

Barley acres were also down last year.

"When you have a carry out number to be forecasted around 1.2 million tonne, that's virtually a needle in the hay stack. By the time we get into mid, end of July, there's not going to be a lot of barley left out in the country because of the export demand and the domestic demand."

Haley, who works out of the companies Lethbridge office, says old crop barley is at $250 per tonne this spring, and he's been brokering new crop at $225 per tonne.

"If you've got old crop barley in the bin, this is the highest price of the whole year. For new crop, if I was growing feed barley, I would be very interested in that price on doing a third of your production."

However, Haley says, if we grow an average barley crop with increased acres, these prices won't hold.

 

Send your news tips, story ideas and comments to jgiles@goldenwestradio.com