Seeing The Future

“I subscribe to the view that we’ll see more shortages and better prices more often in the years to come.” To which view of the future of the grain business do you subscribe? View No. 1: the growing world population and increasing prosperity will lead to a long-term uptrend in agricultural prices. View No. 2:

Consumers Still Fret About Grain Prices

Uncertainty over U. S. spring plantings of corn and soybeans and recent weakness in the dollar have brought a resurgence in grain prices that spells fresh headaches for consumers and food makers this year. The commodities, at the base of a food chain that feeds into hundreds of supermarket products, from oils to starches to


EU Farm Prices Seen Recovering After 2010

Europe’s agriculture markets will start to recover in the medium term due to encouraging demand expectations but global economic gloom will weigh heavily on prices at least until 2010, an EU study showed March 17. In its market outlook through to 2015, experts at the European Commission said demand would be especially hit in higher

A. G., Ritz Invited To Review CWB Books

Canadian Wheat Board chair Larry Hill is so confident in the way the CWB managed its contingency fund and resulting deficit he’s inviting federal auditor general Sheila Fraser and Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz to review the books and make the findings public. “I think the Auditor General would assure producers that everything is fine,” Hill


EU plan may increase global food problem

The challenge of meeting soaring global food demand may be made more difficult by European Union proposals which could ban some fungicides, Britain’s chief scientist said Nov. 12. The European Union may change to a hazard rather than risk-based approach, which effectively means crop chemicals could be banned if they are dangerous at any dosage.

World food security needs collaboration

It is interesting to see how the current financial crisis is changing the way that we think about the world. This point was driven home for me when I had the opportunity to attend a symposium last week in Berkeley, Calif. entitled “Causes and Consequences of the Food Price Crisis.” Sponsored by the Giannini Foundation,


Governments must be ready when free markets free fall

There has been a determined effort to move away from the governmental regulations, not only in the financial and agricultural sectors, but in other sectors as well. Is extremism in the name of free markets a virtue or a vice? As we write this column, it appears that congressional and administration leaders have come to

Canada’s farmers nervously eye financial crisis

“I think what started out looking like a great year has suddenly… chilled a little bit.” Canadian farmers, alarmed by plunging commodity prices, are nervous that the global financial crisis could tighten up the credit they count on to tackle the rising cost of planting crops and feeding livestock. There have been few signs of