Washington | Reuters — Charred remains of a flatbread baked about 14,500 years ago in a stone fireplace at a site in northeastern Jordan have given researchers a delectable surprise: people began making bread, a vital staple food, millennia before they developed agriculture. No matter how you slice it, the discovery detailed on Monday shows […] Read more

Brussels | Reuters — Italy is in no hurry to bring the European Union’s free trade agreement with Canada to a parliamentary vote, its farm minister said on Monday, suggesting its opposition to the deal may be easing. Ministers of the eurosceptic 5-Star/League government have said Italy would not ratify CETA (the Comprehensive Economic and […] Read more

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures jumped on Monday after dropping to their lowest prices in a decade earlier in the session, as the U.S.-China trade dispute looms over agricultural markets. Technical buying helped soybeans to recover after the most-active contract lost more than five per cent last week, traders said. The trade dispute […] Read more

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. livestock futures closed mixed on Monday, with live cattle rising on higher-than-expected cash cattle trades and lean hogs falling on expectations of rising supplies and worries about export demand, traders said. Live cattle futures rose after fed cattle traded late Friday in Texas and Kansas at $111/cwt, which was $2 […] Read more

CNS Canada — The national job vacancy rate in the agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting sector is increasing compared to the same period a year ago. Data for the first quarter of 2018, ending April 30, showed a vacancy rate of 6.9 per cent in the sector compared to 5.3 per cent in the first […] Read more

Reuters — Chances of the emergence of the El Nino weather pattern have increased to 65 per cent during the fall and 70 per cent during winter 2018-19, a U.S. government weather forecaster said on Thursday. The last El Nino, a pattern that brings a warming of ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central […] Read more

CNS Canada — Farmers with flax in the ground should be pleased come autumn. Statistics Canada revised its seeded acreage estimate downward in late June and that, combined with lower carryout stocks and several other factors, should bring strong prices. “Given the demand in the market from China, the United States and potentially even the […] Read more

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. livestock futures were mixed on Friday, with lean hogs sharply higher and live cattle narrowly lower in largely technically driven and spread trading, dealers said. Friday was the final day of the five-day roll for funds tracking Standard + Poor’s Goldman Sachs Commodity Index, and investors moving out of front […] Read more

CNS Canada — The symbiotic relationship that crude oil and canola used to enjoy seems to have hit a snag. Chart structures have proven that crude prices have pushed and pulled canola up and down in recent years. However, since the start of 2018, the gains enjoyed by crude oil have failed to lift canola. […] Read more

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures slid to fresh lows on Friday and the most-active contract closed at the lowest in nearly a decade after a government report reinforced concerns that the trade dispute with China will dent exports and lead to a build-up in stocks. Corn futures followed soybeans lower, with additional pressure […] Read more