Wheat being loaded onto a cargo ship in Vancouver in 2011. (File photo: Reuters/Ben Nelms)

AAFC lowers wheat carryout estimate, raises canola

MarketsFarm — Updated supply and demand estimates from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada call for tighter wheat carryout for the 2020-21 crop year than previous forecast — and more canola. Tursday’s report provides the first adjusted balance sheet estimates from the government agency that account for the latest production numbers from Statistics Canada released earlier in

wheat research

Reporter’s Take: Farmer-owned AAFC?

In 2019 Canadian farmers grossed almost $37 billion from crop sales. Each started with a seed. That’s why getting farmers to pay more for plant breeding — often referred to as “value creation” — is important. It’s also contentious. Nobody wants to pay more and a lot of farmers worry royalties will enrich seed companies


Conditions reported to AAFC’s Canadian Drought Monitor as of July 31, 2020. (Agr.gc.ca)

Most of Prairies to see little rain

MarketsFarm — Warm and dry weather that has generated little precipitation across the Prairies is expected to continue in most areas, aside from southern Manitoba, according to two meteorologists. “Looks like the overall pattern isn’t going to be changing too much,” Scott Kehler of Weatherlogics said. “What you see is what you’re going to get,”

(Agr.gc.ca/eng/youth-in-agriculture)

Agricultural Youth Council members introduced

Jobs for next generation also come online

Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau has named the 25 young people chosen to sit on the inaugural Canadian Agricultural Youth Council. Members of the council (see list below) are expected to offer suggestions on government priorities and identify problems and solutions for Bibeau. “That was quite a challenge actually, because we received over 800 candidates,” Bibeau


(Dave Bedard photo)

July supply/demand report shows just minor revisions

Canola, wheat ending stocks down

MarketsFarm — Updated supply/demand estimates released Friday by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada include only minor revisions from the previous report, taking into account revised acreage estimates Statistics Canada released at the end of June. Canola ending stocks for the current marketing year were lowered by 100,000 tonnes, to 2.5 million tonnes. Meanwhile, projected 2020-21 canola

(Dave Bedard photo)

Little change seen in June’s crop supply/demand tables

MarketsFarm — Supply/demand estimates for Canada’s major crops saw little change in updated tables released Tuesday from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Acreage estimates from Statistics Canada are due out June 30, and should lead to more sizeable adjustments in subsequent reports. Canola ending stocks were left unchanged at 2.6 million tonnes for the current marketing


Federal surplus food program now taking applications

Qualified NGOs sought to move, distribute perishables to 'populations in need'

A federal program to get food to those who need it, using stockpiles of perishables created by the COVID-19-related shutdown of the dining sector, is now taking applications. The $50 million Surplus Food Rescue Program — which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau telegraphed in a funding announcement May 5 — will take applications from “organizations addressing

(Photo courtesy Canola Council of Canada)

AAFC tightens canola stocks projections

Corrected, May 25 — MarketsFarm — Canadian canola ending stocks for both the current marketing year and the upcoming 2020-21 season will be tighter than earlier forecasts, according to updated supply/demand estimates from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada released Friday. The latest data take into account acreage estimates released by Statistics Canada earlier in the month.


Canola south of Ethelton, Sask. on Aug. 3, 2017. (Dave Bedard photo)

Supply chain working but canola groups have concerns

Federal field trials need to continue and growers need protective equipment, they say

There have been no issues so far with supplies of inputs and parts, transportation or oilseed processing during the pandemic, canola industry officials report. “We’ve been really focused on making sure farmers have access to inputs and resources to get the 2020 crop in the ground,” Canola Council of Canada president Jim Everson said during

AAFC’s research station at Morden in southern Manitoba. (Manitoba Co-operator file photo by Allan Dawson)

COVID-19 threatens federal field research

Prairie cereals' commissions urge AAFC to follow example of universities, private researchers

COVID-19 threatens to sideline Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) field, greenhouse and laboratory research this year, but not if the Prairie wheat and barley commissions that help to fund it with farmer money have a say. AAFC has been sending “mixed messages” about its plans, Pam de Rocquigny, general manager of the Manitoba Wheat and