(Dave Bedard photo)

Spring planting expected complete by week’s end

Manitoba Crop Report, Issue 3 (Week 22)

Precipitation was variable across agro–Manitoba from May 22 to 28 with values ranging from 0 to 41.7 mm. The Northwest and Southwest regions received the highest amounts of precipitation over the past seven days. Climate normals for total accumulated precipitation from May 1 to May 28 range from 31.6 to 58.3 mm and are based

(Dave Bedard photo)

Net farm income down in 2022 despite high commodity prices: StatCan

Hike in farm fuel, fertilizer and feed costs is the largest in nearly 50 years

Farmers’ realized net income dropped by over eight per cent in 2022 as expenses outpaced the rise in cash receipts, a new Statistics Canada report says. Realized net income is the difference between cash receipts and operating expenses, minus depreciation and plus income in kind. When cannabis is included, realized net income dropped by nearly


File photo of a federal office building in downtown Winnipeg. (Dave Bedard photo)

AAFC projecting canola ending stocks to tighten

New-crop wheat ending stocks figure boosted

MarketsFarm — Canadian canola ending stocks in both the current marketing year and upcoming 2023-24 season will be tighter than earlier estimates, according to supply/demand projections from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) on Tuesday. Factoring in Statistics Canada’s latest acreage estimates and its data for stocks as of March 31 — figures both released in

File photo of a CFIA vehicle. (Dave Bedard photo)

Gene-edited crops clear CFIA’s regulatory bar

Agency guidance puts gene editing on level of conventional breeding

Plants gene-edited for efficient use of water or nutrients or to better withstand pests or drought now won’t have to clear the same regulatory hurdles in Canada as any crops that are modified for herbicide tolerance or include foreign genes. Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Wednesday announced updated guidance from the Canadian Food Inspection


Grain farmer Oleksandr Klepach points at trenches in his field, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Snihurivka, southeast Ukraine.

Facing minefields and cash crunch, Ukraine farmers to sow smaller crop

As spring draws nearer, the farmers of this global breadbasket face growing challenges

Facing fields full of mines and short of cash, many Ukrainian farmers are likely to sow a smaller area this spring than they did following Russia’s invasion, in what could be a further blow to global food supplies after disruptions last year. Ukraine is a major supplier of wheat and corn to world markets. Production

A sapper of the State Emergency Service inspects an area for mines and unexploded shells in Ukraine's Kharkiv region on March 21, 2023.

Editor’s Take: A season of uncertainty looms

The world is once again facing a growing season in the Northern Hemisphere that’s shrouded in uncertainty. A little uncertainty is nothing new, but over the past few years, things have reached a whole new level. As you’ll read on pages 6 and 7 of this issue, few unknowns are larger than what’s going to


Photo: File

Record winter crop production expected for Australia

Summer crop production seen down on year

MarketsFarm — Australia will see its highest-ever winter crop production thanks to record wheat and canola harvests, according to the latest crop report from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) released Monday. Winter crop production in Australia is estimated at 67.6 million tonnes, up 8.4 per cent from ABARES’ crop

File photo of a combine at work during a harvest in Germany. (Abadonian/iStock/Getty Images)

Germany considering withdrawal from crop-based biofuels by 2030

Lawmakers seek to boost biofuel made from wastes

Hamburg | Reuters — Germany’s government is considering proposals to phase out the use of biofuels produced from food or animal feed crops by 2030, the German biofuels industry association (VDB) said on Tuesday, adding the measure could increase carbon emissions. German environment minister Steffi Lemke said Jan. 17 she will soon send proposals to


File photo of the Rainbow Bridge across the Niagara River between Ontario and New York. (Bloodua/iStock/Getty Images)

Large gap between StatCan, USDA canola estimates

USDA sticks closer to StatCan expectations on wheat

MarketsFarm — There’s a significant difference in the amount of canola grown in Canada during 2022-23, in the estimate from Statistics Canada (StatCan) compared to that from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Earlier in December, StatCan’s survey-based production of principal field crops report pegged this year’s canola harvest at 18.17 million tonnes. That’s a

(Dave Bedard photo)

Farm cash receipts on the rise, StatCan shows

MarketsFarm — Farm cash receipts improved 13.7 per cent during the first three quarters of 2022, Statistics Canada reported Monday. From January to September, those receipts reached $66.7 billion. That increase of more than $8 billion was due to higher receipts for crops, livestock and program payments. The report noted crop receipts rose 7.3 per