CWB Boosts Churchill Volumes

The Canadian Wheat Board this year shipped its second-highest volume of wheat in 32 years through the Port of Churchill, Manitoba, the grain marketer said Oct. 29. The board shipped 529,000 tonnes of wheat and durum through the northern Canadian port, up from 425,000 tonnes a year earlier, and the second-highest tonnage since 1977. The

Salmonella Cuts Into Canola Crushing

Canada’s oilseed processors are crushing less canola, the first tangible sign that the rapidly expanding industry has run into a rut because of a dispute over salmonella with the U. S. Food and Drug Administration. Crushing has decreased even as processors are boosting capacity. If the trend continues, more seed could shift to export and


Canola Top Quality Crop

Canada’s canola crop has surpassed the quality of last year’s bumper crop, despite trying early-growing-season weather that delayed maturity and created uneven growth. Tests by the Canadian Grain Commission show top-grade seed samples have an average of 44.8 per cent oil content – a measurement of the oilseed’s value to crushers who extract the oil

Oat Crop Late But Catching Up

The oat harvest in Canada’s top-producing region of central Saskatchewan is far behind normal progress but farmers are catching up fast with nearly ideal early-autumn weather. Crop development and harvest are two to three weeks late in the area, said Grant McLean, the cropping management specialist for the government of the western province. Hot weather


Heat Wave Helps Wheat, Barley Crops

Warm, late-summer weather has Canadian farmers reaping bigger and better harvests than they expected in midsummer, when slow growth and bad weather suggested a potential crop disaster. Farmers now look to escape a year of drought, flooding and cool temperatures across the Prairies with slightly below-average-size crops of wheat and barley and average quality, said

Canada Defends Wheat Board Monopoly At WTO

Canada’s Conservative government is defending the Canadi an Wheat Board’s grain-marketing monopoly at World Trade Organization talks, even though it has long said it wants to scrap it, CWB chairman Larry Hill said Sept. 17. “We had good assurance from the Government of Canada that farmers’ (ability to) adhere to the single desk will be


Viterra Completes ABB Sale

Canadian grain handler Viterra Inc. said on Sept. 21 it will pay shareholders of ABB Grain A$751.7 million (US$652.5 million) in cash, plus shares in Viterra, to complete its takeover of the Australian company. ABB shareholders had until Sept. 19 to choose among options weighted toward Viterra shares or cash. Nearly 62 per cent of

Low Vomitoxin In Canadian Wheat

Canada’s wheat crop has only low levels of the toxin that has caused Brazil to impose strict testing on United States wheat shipments, the Canadian Wheat Board said Sept. 19. Brazil sanitary officials said Sept. 18 they will test incoming U. S. wheat shipments for traces of vomitoxin, a toxin that can sicken humans and


Smaller Canada Canola Crop Could Curb Exports

A sharply smaller Canadian canola crop in a year when crushing capacity is expanding could create tight supplies that would buoy prices and force buyers to rethink plans. Most Canadian crops are expected to shrink after cool weather and drought-delayed development. Farmers are hoping for later-than-normal frost-free weather to allow their crops to mature. Amid

U. S. Food Safety Worries Hit Canadian Canola Meal

Salmonella-tainted Canadian canola meal has run into a headwind of American food-safety concerns, a trend that threatens to pressure canola futures during a rapid expansion period for the industry. Since March, the U. S. Food and Drug Administration has refused one Canadian shipment of canola (a variant of rapeseed) and three shipments of canola meal.