Table of contents

    1. Seven Steps to Better Marketing
    2. Understanding supply factors for agricultural products
    3. How demand and supply determine market price
    4. How exchange rates affect agricultural markets
    5. How interest rates affect agricultural markets
    6. How to use charting to analyse commodity markets
    7. Agriculture marketing clubs
    8. Commodity futures markets
    1. Economics and Marketing – Choosing a Commodity Broker
    2. Margin on futures contracts
    3. Options on futures – an introduction
    4. Using hedging to protect farm product prices
    5. Canola futures contract
    1. Introduction to crop marketing
    2. Basis – How cash grain prices are established
    3. Grain marketing decision grid
    4. Price pooling – How it works
    5. Crop contracts
    6. Grain storage as a marketing strategy
    7. Using producer cars to ship prairie grain
    8. Using frequency charts for marketing decisions
    9. Western Canadian grain catchment
    10. Barley and wheat marketing resources
    11. Wheat basis levels
    12. Wheat quality and protein matters
    13. Wheat pricing considerations
    14. Marketing oats in Canada
    15. US Crops – Where Are They Grown?
    1. Introduction to livestock marketing
    2. Understanding and using basis levels in cattle markets
    3. Forward contracting of cattle
    4. Understanding dressing percentage of slaughter cattle
    5. Understanding the cattle market sliding scale
    6. Predicting feeder cattle prices
    7. Breakeven analysis for feeder cattle
    8. Farm gate values for farm-raised vs purchased calves
    9. Wool marketing in Canada
    10. Marketing feeder lambs
    1. Turf and forage seed trade companies active in the Peace Region
    2. History of creeping red fescue production in the Peace River Region
    3. Alfalfa seed marketing in Canada
    4. Forage seed marketing
    5. Marketing creeping red fescue
    6. Faba bean
    7. Marketing compressed hay
    1. Agricultural Marketing Glossary – A, B
    2. Agricultural Marketing Glossary – C
    3. Agricultural Marketing Glossary – D, E
    4. Agricultural Marketing Glossary – F, G
    5. Agricultural Marketing Glossary – H, I, J, K
    6. Agricultural Marketing Glossary – L, M
    7. Agricultural Marketing Glossary – N, O
    8. Agricultural Marketing Glossary – P, Q, R
    9. Agricultural Marketing Glossary – S
    10. Agricultural Marketing Glossary – T, U
    11. Agricultural Marketing Glossary – V, W
    12. Other Marketing Related Glossaries

Introduction

The objective of price pooling is to average the market value of a crop over the course of a pooling period. A pooled price reflects an average price over several weeks, months or a year's worth of market sales activities as compared to the price risk inherent in fixing a price on a given day.

Pooling also enables averaging of price differentials among grades and protein levels, reflecting the relationships across the entire pooling period rather than just for a given day or week.

In some years, price spreads between grades and quality can be large, highly volatile and very difficult to predict. Price pool returns are the sum of all revenue achieved on all sales less the costs of operating the pool, divided across the total tonnes in a pool. Price spreads reflect relationships between grades and quality attributes during the entire pool period.

Who offers pooled pricing

The Canadian Wheat Board historically operated wheat, durum, malting barley and feed barley pools. G3 Canada Limited, the company that replaced the Canadian Wheat Board, offers a form of pooled pricing. Other grain companies may also offer pooled pricing as a marketing alternative for producers wanting to manage pricing risk on at least a portion of their crop by averaging sales across a specific time period.

Summary

Pooling remains an appropriate marketing instrument for producers who do not have sufficient time, skills or desire to take an active role in marketing on a daily basis. Other crops where pooling is available include a voluntary edible bean pool operated by Viterra in southern Alberta.

For more information on pooling, consult the details of the specified contracts offered by grain buyers. Before entering into a contract, be aware of any underwriting fees, adjustments and pool management fees.

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