Freezing temperatures drop on Kansas wheat fields

reuters / Potentially crop-damaging freezing temperatures descended on to western Kansas early April 16, where the new crop of hard red winter wheat was maturing rapidly, but wheat experts said the wheat likely held up well. “It can tolerate some pretty cool temperatures with little or no damage,” said Kansas State University agronomist Jim Shroyer.

Quick-cooking barley puts a modern spin on an ancient grain

Manitoba-made, value-added, hulless barley food product 
offers ease of preparation, convenience and nutritional benefits

Everybody has to eat. On dinner plates around the world, there are three main types of starches: rice, potatoes and pasta. Now, after years of product development, Marvin Nakonechny, the CEO of Edmonton-based Progressive Foods, has an ambitious plan to add his company’s new, fast-cooking hulless barley product to that list. “I just want a


Trader sees Ukraine grain exports soaring by 2019

Ukraine harvested a record 56.7 million tonnes of grain in 2011 and the yield stood at 3.7 tonnes per hectare

Reuters / Ukraine could increase its grain exports to about 35 million tonnes by 2019 from about 20 million in the current season by boosting both the sowing area and yields, a large foreign grain trading house said March 14. Ivan Miroshnichenko, Black Sea regional director for Noble Resources Ukraine, told an international agricultural business

Canada barley trade losing ground to Argentina

Reuters / Canada’s barley exports have dwindled to a fraction of their former might, as Argentina muscles in on trade and domestic cattle feedlots offer farmers better prices than exporters. Through March 25, Canada was on pace for exports of 1.3 million tonnes in 2011-12 similar to the past two marketing years, according to Canadian Grain


Letters, April 12, 2012

Government should help fund transition Regarding the article, “Time to start thinking about group housing” (March 22, 2012), Bernie Peet is right to alert pork producers to the reality that gestation crates are on the way out. While transitioning to new housing systems, this is an opportune time for producers to improve housing conditions for

North Dakota wheat and durum acreage to rise

Improved planting conditions will allow North Dakota farmers to seed more spring wheat and durum this spring, but corn will likely steal away potential acres. “Obviously (wheat) acres will be higher, just because so much was not planted last year,” said Jim Peterson, marketing director with the North Dakota Wheat Commission. Five million acres of


Japan to import less food wheat in 2012-13

Reuters / Japan, the world’s fifth-biggest wheat importer, plans to buy 6.5 per cent less foreign food wheat in the year to March 2013 in anticipation of higher local production, helped by government initiatives to lift food self-sufficiency. A panel of experts approved a plan March 28 by the Ministry of Agriculture to buy 4.78 million

Latest seeding estimates add another 600,000 acres for canola

Reuters / Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has slightly raised its forecast for canola plantings, while trimming its wheat estimate. Dry conditions heading into planting season are expected to boost plantings of most major crops, after flooding wiped out millions of acres last year. The latest estimate pegs canola acreage at nearly 20.4 million acres, up


Russia soon to be world’s No. 2 wheat exporter in 2011-12 Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said March 28 that Russia could export almost as much grain in the coming crop year or even match the 27-million-tonne level forecast for 2011-12, when exports have been running at record levels. Russian grain exports are expected to reach