Editorial: Ultimate inside information

One day in my previous life as director of information for the Canadian Wheat Board, a Chinese delegation was in Winnipeg to negotiate a wheat purchase. By that time, Chinese negotiations were down to a few days rather than the few weeks they had taken in the 1960s and 1970s, but there was still a

Funds all-time record short across CBOT grains, oilseeds

Speculators hit a milestone in the Chicago grains and oilseeds market in late April, as they have reached a new level of bearishness across all seven grains and oilseeds futures and options contracts. Combining corn, hard and soft red winter wheat, hard red spring wheat, soybeans, soybean oil and soybean meal, hedge funds and other


Big data and agriculture markets: Part 2

Trend-watching can tell us a lot about markets, but won’t necessarily mean better results

The first of this three-part series looked at the current state of farm revenue and risk management and how big data analysis can play a greater role. This time I’d like to explore some of the myths and misperceptions of agriculture hedging. To understand this topic we have to ask ourselves, for farm marketing and

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

CME Soybean Monthly nearby (chart as of June 28, 2016)

Drozd: Bear trap catches shorts looking down at bottom of soybean market

As they scrambled to cover (buy back) their positions, the market was propelled higher

The soybean futures market at the CBOT has rallied $3.50 per bushel in the past four months. This strength may have come as a surprise to some market participants, given U.S. soybean ending stocks have increased in each of the past two years. However, astute chart readers were led to believe that something was up


Drozd: Loonie turns up following two-week reversal

Drozd: Loonie turns up following two-week reversal

From January to April the loonie has risen almost 10 cents against the greenback

The Canadian dollar has been having a short covering rally for the past few months, gaining nearly .1000 relative to the U.S. dollar. However, the major trend remains down as this market continues to put in lower highs and lower lows. The Canadian dollar was at par with the U.S. dollar in February 2013. For

CME soybean monthly nearby (chart as of November 25, 2015).

Drozd: Bear market intact with soybean market

The soybean market has lost 53 per cent of its value since its peak in 2012

The soybean market has been under pressure since it topped out at the historical high of 17.945 on September 4, 2012. This was a pivotal day, as it marked the end of the bull market rally and the beginning of the ensuing bear market. Now down to $8.44, the soybean futures market has lost 53

CME Lean Hog Weekly nearby (chart as of Oct. 28, 2015)

Drozd: Reversal pattern alerts producers to downturn in lean hog market

The hog market took four years to climb, but only nine months to fall back

Lean hog futures have been on a slippery slope since the bull market rally ended in July 2014. The nearby futures contract went from a historical high of $133.875 per hundredweight to $57.775, losing 57 per cent of its value in only nine months. To put the enormity of this collapse in perspective, it took


Manitoba Farm Industry Board chair Greg Perchaluk wants to hear from the public on how to strengthen the Manitoba Farm Land Protection Act.

Farmers, not investors pushing up land price

Should Canadian-owned companies be allowed to speculate in Manitoba’s farmland market?

Don’t blame pension funds for rising Manitoba farmland prices, blame expanding farms and low interest rates, says Gordon Daman, a land appraiser and president of Red River Group. “This has nothing to do with outside investors,” Daman told the Keystone Agricultural Producers’ (KAP) General Council here Oct. 29. “I can assure you that the Ontario

Canola, November 2015.

Drozd: Double top signals an end to the weather market rally in canola

Weather market rallies seldom last for long. Emotions run high, causing the rally to end just as suddenly as it began

Chart analysts keen on the lookout for telltale signs of a market top in canola were rewarded when a reversal pattern called a double top appeared at the height of the rally in July 2015. Double tops and bottoms are chart formations which appear in the futures markets. Once completed, they are a reliable indicator