Investors seed indoor farms as pandemic disrupts food supplies

Reuters – Investors used to brush off Amin Jadavji’s pitch to buy Elevate Farms’ vertical growing technology and produce stacks of leafy greens indoors with artificial light. “They would say, ‘This is great, but it sounds like a science experiment,’” said Jadavji, CEO of Toronto-based Elevate. Now, indoor farms are positioning themselves as one of[...]

Drowning in grains once again

On Canada’s fertile Prairies, dominated by the yellows and golds of canola and wheat, summers are too short to grow corn on a major scale. But Monsanto is working to develop what it hopes will be North America’s fastest-maturing corn, allowing farmers to grow more in Western Canada and other inhospitable climates, such as Ukraine. The seed[...]


Canada bumps up wheat harvest view, trims canola estimate

Winnipeg | Reuters -- Canadian farmers will harvest slightly more wheat and a bit less canola than expected earlier in summer, but dry conditions will keep both crops small, a government report showed on Thursday. Farms in North and South America, Europe and Australia are facing crop losses as extreme weather spreads over an unusually[...]

Mosaic says stockpiles too high to restart Saskatchewan mine

Winnipeg | Reuters -- Fertilizer producer Mosaic Co. does not currently see the right market conditions to restart its idled Saskatchewan potash mine, with high inventories in the U.S. and Brazil and cold weather slowing trains from Canada, CEO Joc O'Rourke said Wednesday. Mosaic curtailed potash production in December at its Colonsay, Sask. mine, but[...]



U.S. grains: Wheat plunges to three-month low on export competition

Winnipeg | Reuters -- Chicago wheat extended losses on Friday to a fresh three-month low as modest weekly U.S. exports kept traders' focus on competition from cheaper Black Sea supplies. Corn also fell, while soybeans rebounded, consolidating after a selloff in the previous session over disappointing U.S. biofuels levels. The most-active wheat contract on the[...]


U.S. grains: Wheat tumbles to three-month low in broad sell-off

Winnipeg | Reuters -- Chicago wheat fell on Monday to a three-month low, as commodity and equity markets dropped on concern about the impact of rare protests in China against its strict anti-COVID-19 policy. Cheap supplies from Russia and elsewhere in the Black Sea are adding competition for U.S. wheat, and prices have slipped to[...]

U.S. grains: Wheat rises on short-covering, China optimism

Winnipeg | Reuters -- Chicago wheat rose for a second straight session on Wednesday, supported by end-of-the-month short-covering and investor hopes that China will loosen COVID-19 rules, although the grain declined sharply in November on competition from Black Sea supplies. Soybeans also ticked up, touching a two-month peak, as optimism that China will ease restrictions[...]


Canada to harvest less wheat than expected due to drought

Winnipeg | Reuters -- Canadian farmers will harvest less wheat than expected after dry conditions in parts of the Prairie provinces shrunk yields, a government report showed on Tuesday. Drought is expected to send global wheat stockpiles for major exporters to the lowest levels in more than a decade, a Reuters analysis has shown. Canada[...]

Canada can cut fertilizer emissions 14 per cent by 2030, industry groups say

Winnipeg | Reuters -- Canadian farmers can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from applying nitrogen fertilizer by 14 per cent by 2030 through adoption of more sustainable farm practices and new technology, without any overall reduction in fertilizer use, agriculture industry groups said on Wednesday. Such reductions of nitrous oxide from 2020 levels would fall well[...]