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

Letters, March 28, 2013

Farmers well represented by commodity groups I am replying to your recent article regarding farmer’s voice splintered. I am a grain farmer from Alberta growing wheat, canola and peas and have been involved in the canola and newly formed wheat commission in this province for the past 20 years. I take exception to your comments


U.S. corn plantings seen at highest since 1936

Reuters / U.S. farmers may plant 97.43 million acres of corn this year, up 0.3 per cent from last year, which would be the largest corn area since 1936, according to a Farm Futures magazine survey. The survey of 1,750 U.S. growers also showed farmers intend to plant a record 79.09 million acres of soybeans, up

Winter wheat a money-making crop

High potential yields, good prices and relatively low production costs 
have a growing number of farmers interested in winter wheat

It will be a month or so yet before Manitoba farmers get a peek at the winter wheat crop that lies beneath this winter’s heavily insulated snow blanket. Manitoba farmers seeded an estimated 560,000 acres of winter wheat under less-than-ideal, dry conditions last fall, but at least it’s well insulated with lots of snow. “I


Customers are not happy with wheat quality

The Canadian Grain Commission says it’s reassuring customers that changes to the wheat board won’t undermine Canada’s wheat quality, but some buyers say that it’s already undermined. “They were really concerned that we’d be like Australia (and) when we lost the single desk we’d lose quality control and we’d also lose variety control,” assistant chief

World markets growing for Western Canada’s CPS wheat class

Recent regulatory changes will make it easier for American wheats to be registered in the Canada Prairie Spring class

The only problem processors are having with Canada Prairie Spring red wheat these days is not being able to buy enough of it, industry officials told the recent Prairie Grain Development Committee’s annual meeting. “I think if we can maintain our focus on quality, we have the potential to beat out pretty much every other


Winter Cereals Canada understands rationale for crop insurance changes

It turns out MASC has been paying out a lot more on winter wheat claims than it has been collecting in premiums

Growers weren’t happy about changes to the crop insurance program for winter wheat outlined at their recent annual meeting, but they had to acknowledge that some changes were justified. In 2014, Manitoba farmers will still be eligible for a reseeding benefit based on 25 per cent of their coverage if their winter wheat fails before

Latest USDA supply-demand report delivers few surprises in key commodities

The U.S. Agriculture Department delivered few surprises in its monthly crop and world agricultural supply-demand reports, keeping U.S. corn and soybean supplies tight but raising global soybean and wheat stockpiles from a month ago. The Argentine soybean and corn crops were both lowered by drought, USDA said. Projected soybean output was trimmed by three per


CWB lowers old-crop PRO in cereals

CWB has lowered Pool Return Outlooks (PROs) for wheat in its Harvest and Winter pools, according to an updated report released on March 15. Durum and barley PROs in the Harvest and Winter pools were also lowered, while canola values in both pools were unchanged to higher. Wheat PROs in the Harvest and Winter pools

High standards, or regulatory burden?

If you are one of those grain farmers who takes great pride in being a free enterpriser, the next sentence may upset you. You are a member of a collective. Perhaps you don’t have a certificate certifying your involvement in such a pinko outfit, but unless you sell all your grain to one customer who