The industry shift to an open market for wheat sales in 2012 created a need for farmers to have better access to price information and crop data to make informed marketing decisions. Farmers would need to market their wheat as they had in the past with open market commodities.
Industry discussions within a sub-committee of the Canadian Grains Roundtable began to examine the gaps in information and how they could be addressed.
Alberta Grains acted as a catalyst in seeking solutions to improve market and price transparency through a collaborative application with FARMCo grain marketing consultants to the AgriRisk Initiatives program led by the Government of Canada. In January 2015, the Honourable Gerry Ritz, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), announced a contribution to Alberta Grains of up to $742,725 to create a web-based tool that would contribute to a more transparent and efficient grain market.
With a September launch target, Alberta Grains began working with FARMCo. to develop the web-based tool that would become branded as PDQ (Price & Data Quotes).
Throughout the process of building PDQ, Alberta Grains held industry consultations across Western Canada to ensure that the new site would deliver on identified needs.
Later, discussions with member companies of the Western Grain Elevator Association (WGEA) led to their provision of daily market prices for five major commodities – a first for the Canadian grain industry. Those commodities include Canadian Western Red Spring Wheat (CWRS), Canadian Prairie Spring Red Wheat (CPSR), Canadian Western Amber Durum (CWAD), canola and yellow peas, with more commodities expected to be added to the site in future versions.
On September 8, 2015, Alberta Grains launched the first phase of its web-based Crop Data and Price reporting website. The website includes; spot and deferred average prices and basis levels across nine regions in Western Canada as well as historical price information and charting capabilities.
Visit pdqinfo.ca for more information.
Making Markets Work Better
