In Brief… – for May. 26, 2011

Accelerated efficiency: The chief executive of Viterra says plans to scrap the Canadian Wheat Board’s marketing monopoly on western wheat and barley would likely accelerate improvements to the grain transportation system. “Obviously, change brings more change, so that certainly may accelerate that change in creating greater efficiencies in that system,” said Mayo Schmidt May 18.

ICE Canada To Trade Wheat As Monopoly Ends

ICE Futures Canada will launch spring wheat and durum contracts early next year to take advantage of Ottawa’s planned dismantling of the Canadian Wheat Board’s grain monopoly, its chief operating officer said on May 19. The spring wheat contract will compete for liquidity with one offered by the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, but will also complement


Companies Chip In For CFGB Growing Projects

To be successful, Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB) growing projects require land, people, time and energy. The fundraising efforts also need inputs like seed, fertilizer and other chemicals – products generously provided by some of Canada’s leading agro-sciences corporations. This year over $220,000 of inputs have been donated through CFGB to growing projects across Canada by

Viterra CEO Sees Grain Price Rebound

Viterra is buying grains in the cash and futures markets because it sees the recent slide as unsustainable, chief executive Mayo Schmidt said Mar. 16 Grain and oilseed prices remain relatively high and have driven up the cost of food to record levels, but fell sharply recently, just as farmers in the Northern Hemisphere prepare


South Australian Harvest Boosts Viterra Profit

Viterra Inc., Canada’s biggest grain handler and farm retailer, posted its biggest-ever first-quarter profit March 9, easily beating expectations, as the company reaped the benefits of a record harvest in South Australia and high crop prices. “This is a great time to be in the business of producing and marketing food ingredients as the world’s

Project Helps Keep Farmers On Their Land

As investors around the world rush to claim farmland in the wartorn, politically unstable country of Sudan, a Minnedosa man is working on a project that helps the Sudanese people farm it themselves. In the process, Ray Baloun is connecting people across Canada who share an interest in farming. Baloun, who works as a grain


Australian Operations Boost Viterra’s Year-End

Expanding Down Under has boosted the bottom line for grain handler Viterra in fiscal 2010. Canada’s largest grain handler, which bought Australia’s ABB Grain in September 2009, on Jan. 19 booked its first full fiscal year including the Adelaide-based grain firm’s revenues and expenses. Viterra reported profit of $145.27 million on $8.256 billion in revenues

Farmers Making Progress In Fight For Better Rail Service

Ken Rosaasen has witnessed previous grain transportation battles right back to Hall Commission in the 1970s and believes farmers and grain companies are making some headway this time around. “I think the transportation issue is moving on to the front burner and I think it’s going to stay there,” the University of Saskatchewan agricultural economist


Viterra To Take Over AWB Grain Business?

Agrium Inc. is considering whether to keep or sell the grain-handling and marketing unit of takeover target AWB Ltd., a top Agrium official said Sept. 15. Agrium, North America’s leading retailer of fertilizer and chemicals and other farm products, is in the process of buying AWB for A$1.2 billion (C$1.15 billion). AWB, formerly the Australian

Viterra Profit Falls 47 Pct But Doesn’t Surprise – for Sep. 16, 2010

Viterra last week said quarterly profit fell 47 per cent as a wet spring slashed Western Canada’s crop acreage and the company accounted for one-time costs. Reduced Canadian plantings hurt sales of fertilizer and chemicals, cutting agri-products revenue by 13 per cent and limiting North American grain shipments. Analysts were braced for the impact of