FNA will act as sourcing agent for new CWB

Staff with Farmers of North America (FNA) will soon be able to act as the middleman for farmers interested in contracting grain to CWB. Saskatoon-based FNA, a farmers’ buying group negotiating deals on low-cost inputs and other farm supplies and services, announced Jan. 24 its staff will act as “a key sourcing agent for CWB

Mexican farmers want overhaul of grain-hedging programs

mexico city / reuters With a harvest deadline looming, Mexican grain farmers are calling for an urgent overhaul of two government programs that help small producers buy derivatives contracts to hedge their crops. With corn prices down nearly 15 per cent since August and facing the possibility of an uninsured crop, farmer groups say they


CWB privatizing sooner than later

The CWB is talking to potential partners about taking the government-owned grain company private sooner than later. “We’ve been talking to people already in the grain industry and people who are not and want to invest in it,” Gord Flaten, the CWB’s vice-president for grain procurement, told reporters Jan. 16 after speaking at Ag Days.

Supreme Court hammers another nail in wheat board’s coffin

But the Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board 
will continue to pursue a class-action lawsuit for 
$17 billion in compensation

With their appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada rejected, the Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board (FCWB) are vowing to continue with a class-action lawsuit, their last remaining legal avenue for challenging the federal government’s decision to end the board’s monopoly last year. The Supreme Court has refused to hear appeals of the eight


Crushers aim to coax canola from farmers’ bins

Canola futures on the ICE Futures Canada platform continued their slow trek to higher ground during the week ended Jan. 18, with strong demand from the domestic and export sectors fuelling the rally. Some spillover from the gains in Chicago soybeans contributed to the strength. Concerns about tight canola ending stocks further lifted the commodity.

Italy launches durum wheat futures market Jan. 21

milan / reuters / Europe’s first futures market for durum wheat, used mainly to produce pasta in the continent and couscous in North Africa and the Middle East, was launched January 21. Borsa Italiana, controlled by the London Stock Exchange, was due to launch the durum futures in November but the date was put back


Soybeans hot, flax is not for 2013

Expect to see a lot more soybeans and corn planted in Manitoba next spring and a lot less flax and barley, seed growers said during their annual “what’s hot, what’s not” session last month. Hard red spring and general purpose wheat are expected to be popular too, growers told the Manitoba Seed Grower Association’s annual

Time to move past divisive wheat-marketing debate

Richard Gray won’t miss the fighting amongst western Canadian farmers over the Canadian Wheat Board. The University of Saskatchewan agricultural economist says the long, divisive debate distracted farmers from tackling even more financially important issues such as crop research. Grain marketing has been a touchy issue. A farmer who declined to be interviewed likened it



Grain Growers funded to promote grain sales

Fifty thousand dollars in federal government money is going to the Grain Growers of Canada to promote Canadian grain, which will include sending farmers on overseas trade missions. It’s part of $208,000 David Anderson, parliamentary secretary for the Canadian Wheat Board, announced here Nov. 21 during the annual Grain Industry Symposium organized by the Canada