Ashley is originally from Calgary where she lived until her husband whisked her away to the Peace Country. Ashley and her husband lived on an acreage northwest of Peace River, Alberta for 8 years, where she worked for Northern Sunrise County in many roles, including as the Economic Development Officer. She fell in love with being a country girl and living the rural lifestyle.
In a quest for new opportunities and to be closer to family Ashley and her husband moved south, where they have settled on an acreage near Carvel, Alberta and welcomed their son, Wilder. In her spare time Ashley enjoys gardening, canning, baking, fishing, cross country skiing and spending time outdoors with her friends and family.
Although Ashley enjoys spending time at home with her son, she was eager to get back to work and be part of a team again. Ashley was drawn to Agfinity’s core values and felt like she could bring value with her many years of experience working with farmers and rural business owners alike. She is excited to continue making connections and building relationships with producers.
Because Farming is Forever
Ashley Tompkins
Market Report – Erin Harakal
March is 6 days away then it is a matter of weeks till we are in road ban season and break up. It may not seem like it now but eventually the snow will melt, and we will be in seeding. Are you at a good spot for your marketing? Or will you have carry over? And are you okay with having carry over? If not, what price would you be okay pulling the trigger at if you need to sell? Can I load during road bans and seeding. If not, when can I load? These are questions to be considering as we come to the end of February.
Barley bids continue to fall slowly. Buyers are looking towards March-April movement and even into the spring as February slowly ends. Barley bids can be seen anywhere from $420-425/mt delivered Lethbridge for March-April movement. Delivered Calgary can be found anywhere from $415-420/mt for March-April movement as well. The outlook further out seems the same with a slightly higher price for spring delivery about 10 cents a bushel. Corn exports out of the states are currently pacing 36.6% behind last years numbers even though they were up last week compared to the previous week. The US corn export numbers are struggling. Feeders have not had to go far to get corn and other commodities such as oats.
Most buyer have not been going far to get oats. Oats have been on a slow decline as the only homes for them right now seem to be for feed, even if they have been grading better than a feed. Around Central Alberta bids seen to be around $3.60-3.90/bu FOB March-April. With the mild weather these last few weeks it seems like feed has not been getting used as quick compared to some years where the weather has been harsher.
Canola markets finished slightly higher on Tuesday, With May contracts rallying $11.60/mt to close a $831.90/mt. With the Canadian dollar softening and the soybean complex has kept support for canola pricing. Argentina is one to be watching right now as they got an early frost over the weekend. With this news the Soybean complex became bullish. Crop damage cannot be determined but forecasters have said it was enough to potentially do damage especially with crops being immature in this area still. Wheat on the other hand was down a couple cents here on Tuesday. We will see the coming weeks what comes out of the discussion between Russia and Turkey about the black sea grain export initiative and Biden’s surprise visit to Ukraine. Wheat shipment out of the US are 2.8% behind last year. This is not a big amount by any means and it still puts the on pace to meet the USDA projection target for the marketing year.
Right now, the outlook for prices seems very bleak as we slowly approach spring. It’s time to look and see where you are at in marketing and come up with a plan for your remaining tons.