Dealers Forced To Be Flexible On Fertilizer Prices: Analyst

For farmers seeking relief from high fertilizer prices this spring, David Asbridge has two words of advice: shop around. Good deals on fertilizer can be found because dealers have excess supplies and are desperate to unload them, Asbridge told the annual GrainWorld conference in Winnipeg. But he warned farmers not to delay too much because

Ritz Asks CWB To Allow Full Federal Audit

Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz has taken the Canadian Wheat Board up on its invitation to have federal Auditor General Sheila Fraser review its risk management practices. Going one further, however, Ritz also wants Fraser’s office to conduct “a full audit of all operations” at the CWB, the minister said in a release last Thursday,


A. G., Ritz Invited To Review CWB Books

Canadian Wheat Board chair Larry Hill is so confident in the way the CWB managed its contingency fund and resulting deficit he’s inviting federal auditor general Sheila Fraser and Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz to review the books and make the findings public. “I think the Auditor General would assure producers that everything is fine,” Hill

India Eyes First Wheat Exports In Six Years

India, the world’s second-biggest wheat producer, is likely to export the grain for the first time in six years after bumper harvests boosted stocks, a leading grains trader said Feb. 17. The country will harvest 76.5 million tonnes of wheat this year, just 1.6 per cent below official estimates, Vijay Iyengar, managing director of Singapore-based


CBOT’s New Limits On Non-Grain Players Approved

The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) on Feb. 13 received U. S. government approval to limit cash grain delivery instruments held by non-grain firms – its latest move to cool criticism about the performance its grain contracts. CBOT’s regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), approved an amended Feb. 9 request to reduce the large

Pakistan May Export Flour On Surplus Wheat

Pakistan will likely produce more wheat from its bumper crop than a government target of 25 million tonnes this year, paving the way for more exports from South Asia which could further dent world prices. “There is no fear of any shortfall. It should meet our requirement, we should have some surplus,” Muhammad Saeed, chairman


New-Crop Prices To Weaken

The Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) expects wheat and barley prices to be considerably lower in 2009-10 compared to where they thought 2008-09 prices would be a year ago, according to the grain marketer’s first new-crop Pool Return Outlooks (PROs), released February 23 during the annual GrainWorld conference in Winnipeg. However, the CWB pointed out that

Spring Wheat Could Be Sleeper Crop In 2009

Spring wheat could be the sleeper crop in 2009, according to market analyst Mike Krueger. The Fargo, N. D.-based president of The Money Farm consulting service has told his clients to lock in diesel fuel prices, if they can, and secure spring fertilizer supplies because it could be short. Krueger told the Manitoba Special Crops


Farm Cash Receipts Up In 2008

Canada’s farmers grossed $41.8 billion from the sale of crops and livestock in 2008, 14.2 per cent higher than in the previous year, Statistics Canada reported. The increase was fuelled mainly by higher prices for grains and oilseeds. Crop receipts rose 25.6 per cent to $23 billion. Receipts from sales of livestock increased just 2.9

In Brief… – for Feb. 26, 2009

Grant program branches into trees: The Hometown Manitoba grant program for community improvements now includes a tree-planting component, making up to $5,000 available for municipalities or town organizations to plant trees in public areas. The program also offers grants of up to $5,000 for communities to improve and enhance outdoor public areas and up to