Pasture Flood

Dozens evacuated as floodwaters test Rivers dam

WEATHER: Residents downstream of Rivers, Man., are holding their breath as they wait to see if the dam, which holds back Lake Wahtopanah, will hold

Dan Lepp had gotten little rest by the time he drove away from his family’s mixed farm near Rivers the morning of July 2. Lepp, who farms downstream of the Rivers dam on the Little Saskatchewan River, was among dozens of residents in the Municipalities of Riverdale and Whitehead told to evacuate late last night

(TopconPositioning.com)

Brandt deal for Topcon distributor in Ontario falls through

GeoShack says will remain 'independently owned'

A proposal that would have made farm equipment maker Brandt the exclusive dealer for Topcon GPS equipment in Canada has fallen through without a sealed deal. GeoShack Canada, the “master dealer” for TopCon equipment in Ontario through its locations in Toronto, Ottawa and London, announced Tuesday that a completed acquisition by the Regina-based Brandt Group


Bayer’s cross symbol hangs in a terminal at Frankfurt International Airport. (Typhoonski/iStock Editorial/Getty Images)

Investors pile into Bayer bond to pay settlement charges

Amsterdam | Reuters — Investors piled into a Bayer bond on Wednesday that will help pay for a long-negotiated settlement of U.S. lawsuits claiming its widely-used herbicide Roundup caused cancer. Demand for the four-tranche bond sale, whose proceeds will include the litigation payments, exceeded 17.5 billion euros, nearly three times the six billion euros (C$9.15

Canada/U.S. border signage in downtown Detroit. (RiverNorthPhotography/Getty Images)

CUSMA pact takes effect under cloud of disputes, COVID-19

Deal appears to assure continuity of trade for agriculture

Washington/Mexico City/Ottawa | Reuters — A modernized U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade pact took effect on Wednesday, ensuring continuity for manufacturers and agriculture, but the threat of disputes is exposing cracks in what was meant to be a stronger North American fortress of competitiveness. As the deal kicks in, the Trump administration is threatening Canada with new aluminum


CBOT September 2020 corn with Bollinger (20,2) bands. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn continues upward on USDA acreage data, weather worries

Wheat, soy also firm on lower-than-expected USDA acreage; traders eye forecasts for warm, dry Midwest weather

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn futures extended a rally on Wednesday to their highest in more than three months after a steeper-than-expected reduction to the U.S. government’s 2020 corn acreage estimate, analysts said. Soybeans and wheat gained after the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s acreage report on Tuesday also showed smaller-than-expected plantings of the grains.

CBOT September 2020 corn with 20- and 50-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn, soy climb on smaller-than-expected acreage view

Wheat follows corn, soy higher

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago corn futures surged nearly four per cent on Tuesday after the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that American farmers planted 92 million acres of corn this spring, a figure that fell below a range of analyst expectations. Soybean futures rose after USDA put U.S. plantings at 83.8 million acres, up


An image created by Nexu Science Communication, together with Trinity College in Dublin, shows a model structurally representative of a betacoronavirus, the type of virus linked to COVID-19. (Nexu Science Communication via Reuters)

Food exporters sign safety declarations in lieu of virus-free guarantees

Reuters — U.S. food and feed exporters are shipping goods to China with letters assuring the safety of their cargo in lieu of official declarations requested by Chinese authorities that guarantee coronavirus-free shipments, a U.S. agricultural export group said on Friday. The commitment statements, drafted by the Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC), are meant only to

CBOT July 2020 corn with Bollinger (20,2) bands. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn, wheat end higher ahead of USDA reports

Chicago soy also firms; expectations of bumper harvests keep lid on prices

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago corn futures rose on Monday on short-covering and position-squaring ahead of key reports due on Tuesday from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and word that China was in the market for the grain after futures fell to a seven-week low last week, analysts said. Wheat rose, bouncing from contract


Floodwaters claim the main road access to the Brandon Municipal Airport on June 29, 2020.

Floodwaters rise in western Manitoba

WEATHER: Areas in and north of Brandon were particularly hard hit by intense storms that rolled through June 29.

Severe thunderstorms June 28 have left patches of western Manitoba fighting desperately to keep their heads above water. Areas around Brandon, Rapid City and north towards Riding Mountain National Park reported widespread flooding June 28-29. Brandon airport reported 155 millimetres of rain in a matter of hours, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC),

Crops struggle to emerge through hardened soils in Manitoba’s clay-soil regions this spring.

Crops look to come from behind after dry start

Soil compaction and soil crusting led to emergence problems earlier this season, although more recent rains have loosened things up and crops are reportedly coming on

On camera, the soil chunk dug up in eastern Manitoba in mid-June might as well have been cement, for all the damage it showed after being hit with a screwdriver. The video, filmed by agronomy consulting service Antara Agronomy and later posted to Twitter, shows a local agronomist attempting to smash and chip a block of compacted seedbed,