U.S. Senate building

Comment: September slips away — and so do political solutions

The clock is ticking on several U.S. policy decisions that could have global implications

There are never enough days in September for farmers, ranchers, and pennant-chasing baseball teams. Every day, whether spent in a combine, pasture or batter’s box, brings change to what’s real today and what’s possible tomorrow. And it happens fast; September days don’t pass, they evaporate. The U.S. Congress, however, seems not to notice days, months

Price bubbles and commodity markets

Athoughtful new paper from researchers at the University of Illinois marks a significant step forward in research on how commodity futures prices are formed. Until recently, the academic and policy debate about futures price formation has been locked in an acrimonious and polarized standoff between market fundamentalists, who insist all price moves reflect supply-and-demand fundamentals,


Anxiety rises over possible Prairie seeding delays

ICE Futures Canada canola contracts posted good gains during the week ended March 22, as solid end-user demand, the weaker Canadian dollar, a slowdown in farmer selling, bullish technical signals, ongoing concerns over tightening old-crop supplies, new concerns over possible planting delays this spring, and logistical issues moving soybeans out of South America all served


Governments urged to tackle sharp commodity price swings

Governments must co-operate to tackle increasingly sharp swings in prices of commodities such as food, metals and oil, says a British think-tank. “Trade is becoming a front line for conflicts over resources — at a time when the global economy is more dependent than ever on trade in resources,” states a report from London-based Chatham


Drought adds to Portugal’s economic woes

After Portugal’s driest February in 80 years, farmers are praying for a miracle as drought ravages pastures and sparks forest fires, exacerbating the country’s economic crisis. Worse still, official forecasters expect the freak weather pattern to prevail at least through the end of March, which would worsen a drought now classified as severe and extreme


Economic Jitters, Harvest Pace Weigh On Grains

Canola futures on the ICE Futures Canada trading platform suffered a serious price setback during the week ended Sept. 23. Global macroeconomic concerns combined with an aggressive harvest pace on the Canadian Prairies to send values down sharply. All the canola contracts lost at least $20 per tonne each. The penetrat ion of support in


PepsiCo Partnership To Boost Ethiopian Chickpeas

PepsiCo Inc., best known for its cola and Lays potato chips, is now setting its sights on chickpeas. The company is teaming up with the U.S. Agency for International Development to boost the production of chickpeas in Ethiopia by working with small farmers. The plan is then to help develop local businesses that use the

In Brief… – for Apr. 21, 2011

Food safety chair:Is our food safe to eat? A new Chair in Food Safety the first of its kind in Canada puts McGill University at the head of the table in seeking answers to that question. The chair will undertake collaborative research, offer undergraduate and graduate teaching programs, and provide the independent, third-party expertise on