Ethanol Byproduct Cuts Into Barley Bids

Imported Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles (DDGS) is increasingly displacing barley in the western Canadian feedlot sector, industry sources say. The loss in barley’s cash value was seen continuing given that DDGS have now become part of a scheduled program by the feedlot industry. “The need to cover barley needs by end-users has been slowing

Changes Needed To CWB Election Rules

“Everything this government does is with a view to destroying the wheat board so whether they make changes by opening the act or otherwise their end-game is always the same.” – STEWART WELLS Farmers divided over the Canadian Wheat Board’s (CWB) role can agree on one thing: the rules for electing directors and the role


Canada Wheat, Barley Stocks Smaller Than Expected

Canadian year-end stocks of all wheat, barley, canola and oats were smaller than they were the previous year due to farmers harvesting smaller crops, Statistics Canada said Feb. 5. Stocks of all wheat in grain bins and country elevators totalled 21.685 million tonnes on Dec. 31, which was 1.5 per cent less than a year

Canada Picks Up Wheat Exports To Africa From AWB

The Canadian Wheat Board has picked up some wheat export sales to Africa from AWB Ltd., because the former Australian Wheat Board can no longer guarantee supply, CWB chief executive Ian White said Jan. 28. “Some customers in Africa who used to get 100 per cent of their supply from the Australian Wheat Board have


CWB Lowers Price Outlooks

The Canadian Wheat Board has lowered its price projections for most classes of wheat and durum sold during the 2009-10 (Aug./July) crop year. The Pool Return Outlooks, released January 28, were left unchanged for barley. Wheat values were steady to down $5 per tonne from December, with most classes of wheat seeing declines. The CWB

Federal Court Dismisses CWB Voter List Challenge

“By taking this to court the Friends attempted to prove that this was not just a dirty trick, but it was an illegal dirty trick.” – STEWART WELLS AFederal Court judge has dismissed a farmer group’s call for a judicial review of changes in how the voters’ list is drafted for Canadian Wheat Board director


Letters – for Feb. 4, 2010

Government argument insulting I spent Wednesday, Jan. 20 sitting in Federal Court in Winnipeg as a farmer-applicant on behalf of the Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board. Our case is about the voter manipulation by the federal government in 2008 in our farmer-funded Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) director elections. Instead of using the majority of

Ag Sector Pressured By Lower Crop Prices

A plunge in grain prices to start 2010 has pressured shares of some Canadian agricultural companies, but the pullback may be short lived given the industry’s strong long-term fundamentals. Analysts said the multiyear trend of improving diets in populous, developing countries like China and India remains intact, suggesting investors may find opportunities after recent price


Supreme Court Upholds Wheat Board Gag Order

“We think there’s an important principle of farmer control at stake.” – LARRY HILL, CWB The Canadian Wheat Board has lost its final effort to overturn a federally imposed gag order on promoting its sales monopoly. The Supreme Court of Canada has refused to hear a CWB appeal against a lower court ruling to leave

Grain Bags Need Further Study

Grain bags, also known as silo bags or grain sausages, may seem like a quick-and-easy solution to the problem of where to put that bin buster of a crop. But a University of Manitoba grain storage researcher had some cautionary words about a product that has seen precious little study when he spoke to farmers