Hartley Furtan: January 2008 Archives

Current grain prices are bringing genuine smiles to the face of many a Prairie grain producer. It is good to see grain farmers with such optimism. They have faced a number of financially difficult years and now they have some good prospects. How long this will last, no one knows. If you had a chance to examine last week's posting you would have read that this period of high grain prices has been forecasted to last anywhere from two to ten years, depending on which expert you ask. Let's hope it is for a while.

Many Prairie grain farmers have received substantial government transfers in previous years. I was one who argued that the government should support grain farmers, an argument not appreciated in all quarters. Hopefully the industry will evaluate what impact, good and bad, the past transfers had on the grains sector.

While the grains sector is experiencing good times financially it is important to address the secondary challenges that come about as grain prices rise. Keeping these effects in mind may help the agriculture industry make the most of the current opportunity. Some of the secondary challenges are local, some national, and some international.