Shoal Lake Grade 12 student Austin Tataryn received his laptop from Richardson Pioneer representative Rick Kienas at a June 12 presentation at Shoal Lake School.

Gently used laptops find a new home

Former Richardson employee works with the company to donate surplus machines to high school graduates

Thirty high school students from Shoal Lake and Strathclair each recently received a refurbished laptop thanks to a joint initiative by Shoal Lake School alumna Jennifer Stefansson and Richardson International Limited. The new program is for high school graduates who have contributed to their community but do not have a laptop and intend to pursue

Since March Canadian canola exports have increased to some other countries, but not enough to offset what’s expected to be an extra million tonnes of potentially price-depressing canola carry-over at the end of the crop year July 31.

New Canadian canola seed sales made to China

Details are few but the canola council says normal canola trade with China has not been restored

Canada has made a “small amount” of new canola seed sales to China, but exports to Canada’s biggest canola customer aren’t back to normal. Not even close. “We are aware of a small amount of (canola seed) sales that have occurred (to China),” Brian Innes, the Canola Council of Canada’s vice-president of communications said in


Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the first time acknowledged he believes China’s boycott of Canadian canola seed is linked to China’s trade dispute with the United States, including Chinese tech giant Huawei.

Trudeau acknowledges U.S.-China dispute linked to canola

The study into China’s concerns about dockage and blackleg is done but hasn’t been shared with China yet

The Canadian government has acknowledged for the first time publicly what most suspected: canola to China is the symptom, not the illness. China’s decision not to buy Canadian canola seed since March is linked to Canada’s arrest late last year of Meng Wanzhou, vice-president of Chinese technology firm Huawei, at the United States’ request. “We

The halt on canola shipments to China is hitting farmers first and hardest, according to KAP.

KAP wants government action on canola spat

While Chinese and Canadian officials are talking, so far China hasn’t agreed to a face-to-face meeting

Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) is frustrated the federal government hasn’t done more to restore Canadian canola exports to China a month after the current trade dispute began. At press time Monday the Chinese had not replied to Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau’s request to send a Canadian delegation to China led by the Canadian Food Inspection

“Not only do they (China) have shrinking demand for international grains and oilseeds because
of their hog industry, they’re supposed to buy more stuff from the U.S. It’s another convenience that might drive them in the direction of protectionism.” – Richard Gray

Why a Canadian canola delegation isn’t in China

As of last week the Chinese government hadn’t agreed to a tête-à-tête

It takes two to tango. That’s why Canada hasn’t sent a ministerial-level trade delegation to restore Canadian canola exports to China. An official in a position to know says the Chinese government hasn’t agreed to such a meeting. However, the official speaking for background, said Canadian and Chinese government officials have been communicating via teleconferencing.


While China has been the biggest influence on canola bids, it hasn't been the only factor.

China’s import ban tosses an anvil to ICE canola futures

Substantial supplies and little demand add more pressure

China definitely looms large globally, and that was very evident on March 22 when canola contract prices plummeted on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). Canola ended trading on March 18 up $1.50-$2.60 per tonne, with the May contract closing at $466.30. For most of last week, canola had moved up and down a little each way

Editorial: Lose the certificate, lose the brand

These days you can hardly read an article on business success without a reference to the importance of branding. But last week the federal budget confirmed what we reported in the last issue — the Canadian Grain Commission and its Certificate Final for export shipments are under review. That means that so is the brand

Canola bids have fluctuated a fair bit this last week.

China one of several factors keeping canola bids in flux

Canola’s narrative today resembles that of U.S. soybeans

Being the world’s second-largest economy, there is no doubt China has a lot of economic clout. Every tidbit of news or rumour regarding China has been able to drive prices up or down within minutes — and this past week was no different. There are strong similarities between what has been happening with canola and


Editorial: A valuable question

The Irish writer and humorist Oscar Wilde once famously noted that a cynic is one who “… knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing.” Wilde wrote those words in the play “Lady Windemere’s Fan” more than 125 years ago, as a rebuttal to what he saw as the growing cynicism of the

Blooming canola field at sunset

Canola council moving on without Richardson

Outgoing chair optimistic about the future of canola and the CCC

When Richardson International, Canada’s largest grain company, ceased being among the Canola Council of Canada’s (CCC) core funders last year, it raised questions about the group’s future. But after a lot of hard work in 2018 reviewing its operations and setting new priorities, the CCC is in good shape, outgoing chair David Dzisiak told reporters