Cereals & Farming Articles - Manitoba Co-operator

Cereals, Livestock, News, Oilseeds, Opinion

Letters — for 2012-03-29

March 29, 2012

Full costs to farmers underestimated Some years back Co-operator reporter Allan Dawson quoted a farmer saying that basis is a licence to steal. Two March 22 opinions are cases in point where we as farmers take a back seat to the private trade margin traders. In “The $5-million advantage of local processing,” Manitoba Cattle Enhancement

Cereals, Crops, Grain Markets, News, Oilseeds

Old-crop canola contracts resist downward pressures

By Dwayne Klassen March 29, 2012

ICE Futures Canada canola contracts started the week ended March 23 strong, but finally ran into resistance to post their first weekly declines in nearly two months in the old-crop contracts. However, even the correction lower was short lived, as Friday saw the market attempt to retest those earlier highs. Overbought price sentiment and pent-up

Cereals, News

Big payday for Schmidt if Viterra sells

By Manitoba Co-operator Staff March 29, 2012

Viterra CEO Mayo Schmidt will earn millions of dollars if Glencore buys Viterra, according to the Globe and Mail. Citing security filings the Globe says Mayo Schmidt will be paid an estimated $37.5 million through “a combination of the value of his stock holdings and of the fully vested value of his outstanding options and

Cereals, Crops, News

Assessing winter wheat survival

By Allan Dawson March 29, 2012

There are a couple of ways to determine if winter wheat survived the winter, MAFRI says on its website. One is waiting until the soil and crowns warm up and root growth starts. That could take until mid-May. Another option is to extract several “sods” from the field and warm them inside. Keep the soil

Cereals, News

Farmers want Competition Bureau to scrutinize sale of Viterra’s input stores

By Allan Dawson March 29, 2012

Most farm groups are giving the Viterra sale a thumbs up on the grain side of the transaction, but there’s concern about potentially less competition in farm input sales. Glencore is buying Viterra, but will sell 232 of Viterra’s 258 input stores in Canada and all 17 in Australia, along with 34 per cent of

Cereals, Crops, Forages, News

GMO proliferation an existential threat to organic farmers

By Daniel Winters March 29, 2012

Sourcing organic alfalfa seed has become more complicated since the commercial release of genetically modified alfalfa in the U.S., the executive director of the Canadian Organic Trade Association says. Although it is not yet grown commercially in Canada, the herbicide-tolerant forage crop was given a green light by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in 2005

Beef cattle, Cereals, News

Briefs, March 29, 2012

March 29, 2012

Safeway to stop buying “pink slime” beef filler washington / reuters Safeway, the No. 2 U.S. supermarket operator, will stop buying the ammonia-treated beef filler critics call “pink slime” because of widespread customer concern. The halt is a fresh blow to use of the ground beef filler, also known as lean, finely textured beef, which

Cereals, Crops, Grain Markets, News

IGC sees global maize deficit

By Nigel Hunt March 29, 2012

Reuters / World maize production should climb in 2012-13 but is likely to remain below consumption as demand for meat boosts feed use, International Grains Council senior economist Amy Reynolds said March 14. Reynolds, in a presentation at the Agra Europe outlook conference, put the 2012-13 global maize crop at 880 million tonnes, up from

Cereals, Crops, News

Too soon to give up on winter wheat

By Daniel Winters March 24, 2012

The Prairie winter wheat crop may have been left looking a bit worse for wear due to unusually low snowfall cover, but there’s still life lurking below those browned-off stalks. That’s because it takes more than just a tap on the head to kill winter wheat, said Outlook, Sask.-area farmer Dale Hicks, who is also

Cereals, Crops, Grain Markets, News

New ICE wheat contract will struggle

By Allan Dawson March 23, 2012

The outlook for the new ICE Future Canada’s wheat futures market isn’t great, according to Neil Townsend, the Canadian Wheat Board’s North American market analyst. The long-running spring wheat futures market in Minneapolis didn’t get enough business before the Winnipeg market launched in January, he said. As a result, Minneapolis wasn’t “liquid” enough — a

Daily Network News

U.S. livestock: CME cattle fall on profit-taking

U.S. grains: Soybeans rebound as market weighs China prospects

B.C. ostrich owner condemns violence near embattled farm

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