By Nigel Maxwell

Demand for mustard grows in Saskatchewan

Feb 8, 2016 | 5:18 AM

Saskatchewan fields may take on more of a yellow glow this year.

That’s because mustard crops in the central and northern grain belts are projected to bring big returns.

Yellow mustard 2016 crop bids delivered now sit at 45 cents per pound; oriental and brown bids are at 33 to 36 cents a pound.

A shortage of mustard in other countries and the low Canadian dollar are attributed to the price increase.

Kevin Hursh with the Saskatchewan Mustard Development Commission cautions against getting too excited.

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“We’re the world’s largest exporter of condiment mustard but it is still a limited market. If we produce too much the price goes down,” he said. 

The biggest customer for yellow mustard is the United States; a big customer for brown mustard is Europe where they make Dijon mustard; oriental mustard tends to go to Asian nations for various uses including wasabi.

Hursh said the mustard crop has been around longer than canola, but that being said, he does not foresee a lot of farmers switching over.

“There is no way to control canola within a mustard crop and even just a small amount of canola mixture within your mustard crop quickly downgrades it,” he said.

Hursh said another important point to make is canola genetics are such that producers will often times get very high yields, whereas farmers cannot get the same yields from mustard.

“If you compare average mustard yields with average canola yields, mustard looks like it will return a lot more money but if you’re able to grow a really good, big canola crop then that narrows that gap considerably,” he said.

Famers who have questions about mustard can now go online and access a new mustard production manual at www.saskmustard.com

nmaxwell@panow.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell