(GZKele/iStock/Getty Images)

Ukraine sunseed area seen falling due to war

Lviv | Reuters — The area sown to sunflower in Ukraine is likely to fall to 4.81 million hectares (11.89 million acres) in 2022 from 6.66 million hectares in 2021 due to hostilities in many regions, the agriculture ministry said on Friday. Ukraine is the world’s largest sunflower seed grower and sunflower oil exporter. The

Parts are already in short supply in Ukraine, and farmers are stockpiling and lending and borrowing amongst themselves. (Ihor Pavliuk photo)

Farming behind the lines in Ukraine

A Ukrainian agriculture journalist chronicles the challenges of sowing a crop during wartime

Ukrainians will farm their land, even in the face of war. In the Kherson area of southern Ukraine, where war rages and the city of Kherson is seen by the Russian invaders as strategic, a column set out on Monday. This was a column of tractors, under the flag of Ukraine. In it were farmers



Anti-tank ‘hedgehogs’ are seen in Maidan Nezalezhnosti Square in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, on March 9, 2022. Farmers are among those assembling the obstacles, set up to block roads against advancing armoured vehicles. (Yevhen Kotenko/Ukrinform/Abacapress.com via Reuters)

Bread and war: Farmers in the fight for Ukraine

Agriculture, being the most important industry in Ukraine, will play a large part in the war, a Ukrainian ag journalist writes

It is very difficult to explain what a person feels when they’re awakened at 5 a.m., when a rocket explodes near their house. That’s exactly what I experienced Feb. 24. The first thing I did was fill my car with gasoline. Then we bought a lot of products we thought we might need — medicines






Fall rye (right) shows more vigorous early-spring growth compared to winter wheat (left), which needs more heat to start growing.

Weighing your options for winter cereal crops

Manitoba is still in a state of drought as winter cereal seeding season approaches, but in some ways, that’s increasing interest

Planting into dust, in a drought year, may have some producers questioning the possibility of success, but cereal experts have shown some optimism over the future of winter cereals this season. Why it matters: The province is dry, but the urge to get the most out of water-use efficiency, or ease the feed strain for


(Dave Bedard photo)

Canola, wheat acres in opposite trends before StatsCan report

'Every commodity was offering options that were profitable'

MarketsFarm — Just days prior to Statistics Canada issuing its latest survey-based crop acreage report on Tuesday next week, analysts are estimating a rise in canola acres at the expense of wheat. “Coming through the winter and towards spring seeding, we were looking at canola prices that were at their highest levels of all time,”

CBOT July 2021 soybeans (candlesticks) with 20- and 100-day moving averages (green and black lines) and ICE November 2021 canola (yellow line, left column). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Soy eases on improved weather view

Chicago corn mixed, wheat down

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures fell on Tuesday on an improved weather outlook for the Midwest crop belt, analysts said. The forecasts for cooler and wetter conditions later this month also pressured new-crop corn futures on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), although front-month July gained against back months on spreads, reflecting tight