Thankful for the simple things

Some of the most simple things in life are what bring joy and warmth. I had been reminiscing and telling my granddaughter about the good old days and how my mother would grow her own corn for popcorn, dry the cobs and then with a wringing motion, remove the kernels that would fall into a

IGC cuts forecasts for global maize, wheat crops

Reuters / A sharp decline in prospects for the European Union’s maize crop is set to further tighten supplies in a market where prices have already hit record highs this year, the International Grains Council forecast Sept. 28. The IGC, in a monthly report, cut its forecast for global maize production in 2012-13 by 5.1


No solutions in sight as feds, pork industry talk

Assistance to help hog farmers survive the current bout of high feed costs and low prices has yet to materialize, says Martin Rice, executive director of the Canadian Pork Council. Driven by soaring feed costs from this summer’s drought and high profile bankruptcies, the council has been holding discussions with Agriculture Canada on what kind

Popcorn soon to cost more than the movie

For more than half a century, the Shew family has harvested mountains of popcorn kernels to be buttered, salted and munched by movie fans. But as a crippling Midwestern drought sends commodity soybean and grain prices soaring, the family’s farmland in west-central Indiana is suffering. Plants are listing, stalks are spindly and corn ears small.





Nebraska irrigators cut off

Reuters / More than 1,100 farmers in Nebraska have been ordered by the state’s Department of Natural Resources to halt irrigation of their crops because the rivers from which they draw water have dropped due to a worsening drought. The orders come as the central United States is enduring the worst drought since 1956, which

An innovative way to encourage agricultural development

Canadian Foodgrains Bank is always looking for creative ways to fight hunger. That’s why the organization welcomes a new idea announced by the G20 at its recent meeting in Mexico that offers rewards for companies that can solve certain food-related problems. Called AgResults, the new program offers incentives to the private sector to pursue new


U.S. corn farmers nervous over dry forecast

Some farmers in the eastern U.S. Corn Belt have been buying back contracts of corn sold to their local elevators for post-harvest delivery as a deepening drought raised concern that there may be no grain to deliver. Volumes of buybacks have been minimal thus far, but grain merchants expect there will be more as weather

China’s agricultural future: Adopt developed technologies

China is a grudging importer of corn and pork, preferring instead to increase domestic production 


As the most populous nation on Earth, China has intermittently been seen as the solution to the problem created by the ability of U.S. farmers to produce more than they can sell at a profitable price. Sometimes the discussion is focused on cotton; at other times it is corn or soybeans. Today, it is pork