Western grain is moving relatively well despite bad weather and a big crop, but shippers complain CP Rail could do better. CP Rail says it’s moving almost as much grain as it did last crop year, which was a record.

Western grain shipping relatively smooth so far

Although concerns have been raised about CP Rail’s performance, a big crop and cold weather haven’t derailed grain exports

Western Canadian grain has been moving fairly well this crop year despite a 76-million-tonne crop and bitterly cold weather, which in 2013-14 was blamed for a huge and expensive grain-shipping backlog. “All things considered things are going pretty good,” Mark Hemmes, president of Quorum Corporation, the firm hired by the federal government to monitor Western

Wheat farmer checking his crop.

Big data and agriculture markets: Part 1

We’re awash in market information and using modern approaches can help manage and understand it all

Big data has got a lot of attention: from online shopping patterns that encourage you to buy, to life insurance to lower premiums and, of course, to the financial markets to increase returns and reduce risk. The agriculture industry has seen plenty of number crunching focusing on production and operations information technology, crop sciences advancements


Crop data system in beta for Western Canada

Climate Corp.’s Climate FieldView system is already on offer down East

A Monsanto arm’s farm data suite, already being offered for sale in Eastern Canada for use this spring, is in beta testing toward a rollout later this year in Western Canada. Management from Monsanto and its farm data systems arm, The Climate Corp., speaking on a conference call Jan. 5, said they see a launch

one dollar banknote among wheat grains

Comment: Hard numbers and hard politics

Low crop prices and trade uncertainty are a trouble combination looming for 2017

The calendar may have changed but the numbers all U.S. farmers will work with this new year are little different from the numbers everyone worked with last year. For example, 2016’s corn production was baked-in last fall and so too are most of 2017’s options. We grew a staggering 15.3 billion bu. last year, will


CAFTA’s Claire Citeau says the organization is less enthusiastic about Canada’s trade deal with Europe, unless outstanding issues can be cleared up prior to implementation.


CAFTA less enamoured with Europe trade deal

Deal doesn’t solve trade barriers, making it less attractive to the sector, longtime trade champion says


The Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance says its support for a Canada-Europe trade deal is now conditional. The longtime enthusiastic backer of the deal says high tariffs and other headaches won’t be quickly resolved. Claire Citeau, CAFTA’s executive director, told the Commons trade committee that it expected the deal would generate $1.5 billion in new Canadian

Soybean Field

U.S. soybeans may be headed for 90 million acres in 2017: Braun

The soybean-to-corn futures pricing ratio is far higher than it usually is at this time of year

It is almost certain that U.S. farmers will plant more soybeans in 2017 than ever before, but profitability indicators in the futures market give good reason to believe that this acreage could push much higher than what we have been prepared for. In its annual long-term projections published late last month, the U.S. Department of


Telecommunication tower with beautiful sky background

Study says faster Internet speeds not enough

The Rural Development Institute says increasing the culture of use in rural areas 
is equally important to making faster broadband available

A new study by the Rural Development Institute (RDI) in Brandon says rural residents will need help becoming more Internet savvy as faster broadband services become available. “Everybody treats broadband with a mentality of ‘build it and they will come,’” said RDI research associate Wayne Kelly. “What we’re finding, though, is that there is a

A sandwich built to this level of perfection could fetch quite a price premium in 2017.

Average Canadian family’s food costs could rise $420 next year

Low Canadian dollar makes imported food far more expensive, causing an increase well above the rate of inflation

Canadians will pay more to put food on their tables in 2017, according to Canada’s Food Price Report 2017. The report, from Dalhousie University, forecasts a rise in food prices between three per cent and five per cent higher than last year’s increase and considerably higher than the general inflation rate. For the average Canadian


soybeans and soybean pods

Brazil’s export lull sets stage for record soybean shipments: Braun

The current lull in shipments is exactly that, rather than a withdrawal from the market

If there is a silver lining to Brazil’s recent shortcomings in grain exports, the country is now more prepared than ever to pump out big volumes in 2017, perhaps to the dismay of its competitors. Brazil is the No. 1 and No. 2 shipper of soybeans and corn, respectively, but earlier this year, the drought-stricken

While some are calling on the federal government to nationalize the Port of Churchill, others say no matter who owns the facility, its grain shipping days are done.

Whither the Port of Churchill?

Amid calls for a new owner or nationalization, some say no matter who owns the facility, 
companies won’t export grain through Canada’s only deepwater, arctic seaport

Time is running out for the Port of Churchill say its supporters, but according to others it can’t be saved. They say its fate was sealed Aug. 1, 2012, when the Canadian Wheat Board’s (CWB) monopoly died. “It is urgent,” Churchill-Keewatinook Aski MP Niki Ashton said Dec. 15 in an interview after calling for the