Incoming Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew has brought a former provincial agriculture minister back to the cabinet table to handle the ag file. Ron Kostyshyn, who from 2012 to 2016 was then-premier Greg Selinger’s ag minister while serving as MLA for the northwestern riding of Swan River, was sworn in Wednesday as minister of agriculture in […] Read more

Former ag minister returns in new Manitoba cabinet
Kinew names Kostyshyn to ag portfolio

U.S. grains: Wheat firms on bargain buying, corn follows suit
Soybeans hit three-week high
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago wheat futures rose for the first time in three sessions on bargain buying on Wednesday, with corn futures following, traders said. Wheat futures also gained a mid-session boost on rekindled market speculation that India, a leading wheat producer, may be tight on supplies. India raised the price at which it […] Read more

Prairie Forecast: Warmer, colder… then snow?
Issued Oct. 18, covering Oct. 18-25
Not surprisingly for this time of the year, the last forecast didn’t play out exactly as expected, but overall, it was pretty darn close. The large area of high pressure that was forecasted to develop over the northern Prairies and slowly drop southward did just as forecast, but over the first few days the high […] Read more

U.S. grains: Soybeans hold firm with harvest, domestic demand in focus
Corn eases as harvest watched, wheat retreats from two-week high
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures firmed for a second straight session on Tuesday amid thin technical trading, as strong domestic demand eased concerns about supplies growing as the U.S. harvest continued. Corn inched down while traders monitored the U.S. harvest progress, as investors watched Israel’s war with Palestinian militant group […] Read more

U.S. grains: Wheat down off two-week high on global demand
U.S. says soybean harvest is 62 per cent complete
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures ended lower on Monday after rising earlier to their highest level in more than two weeks on hopes for global demand. Corn futures also eased as traders monitored the U.S. harvest, while gains in soyoil futures helped lift the soybean market, analysts said. After trading […] Read more

EU countries fail to agree on extending glyphosate approval
Current approval expires Dec. 15
Brussels | Reuters — European Union governments failed on Friday to give a decisive opinion on a proposal to extend by 10 years EU approval for the use of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Bayer’s Roundup herbicide. A “qualified majority” of 15 countries representing at least 65 per cent of the bloc’s population had been […] Read more

Brazil tells landowners to stop setting fires in Amazon ‘climate emergency’
Properties could be embargoed, agency says
Sao Paulo | Reuters — Brazil’s government told ranchers and farmers on Friday to stop setting fire to the Amazon rainforest as clouds of dense gray smoke make the air increasingly unbreathable in the northern city of Manaus, threatening sanctions if they do burn areas of land. “Fire is not natural in the Amazon, it […] Read more

Russia destroyed 300,000 tonnes of grain since July in attacks, Kyiv says
Port damage cuts export potential 40 per cent, deputy PM says
Kyiv | Reuters — Russia has destroyed almost 300,000 metric tonnes of grain since July in attacks on Ukraine’s port facilities and on ships, the Ukrainian government said on Friday, underscoring the war’s threat to global food security. In summer, Moscow quit a U.N.-brokered deal that had allowed exports of Ukrainian grain through the Black […] Read more

U.S. grains: Soy, corn slip on profit taking, macro pressure
Exports lift wheat futures
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures retreated on Friday on profit-taking after hitting two-week highs in the previous session and as souring consumer sentiment and inflation worries hung over the market. Corn futures followed soybeans lower, but wheat rallied after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported stronger-than-expected weekly export sales and confirmed a […] Read more

U.S. grains: Chicago soybeans surge after USDA projects smaller soy, corn crops
CBOT corn, wheat also higher
New York | Reuters — Chicago soybean and corn futures shot up on Thursday following a closely watched U.S. government report forecasting a smaller corn and soybean harvest than previously projected, and below an average of analysts’ estimates. The Chicago Board of Trade’s (CBOT) most-active soybean futures contract jumped about three per cent to settle […] Read more