A week-long strike by about 360 unionized workers on the St. Lawrence Seaway ended Monday morning with a tentative agreement on a new labour deal. The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC) and Unifor, the union representing the workers, announced the new agreement separately Sunday evening. Unionized workers had been on strike since just after […] Read more
St. Lawrence traffic to resume as tentative labour deal reached
Deal goes now to ratification vote
Prairie Forecast Update: Warmer air not in the cards
Issued Oct. 29, covering Oct. 29 to Nov. 1
The forecast for this period has been playing out pretty close to what the weather models were predicting, but with a few small differences. For Alberta, the forecasted upper ridge does not look like it will get nearly as strong as originally forecasted as a strong northwesterly flow helps to flatten the ridge. This means […] Read more
U.S. grains: Soybeans, soymeal climb on demand
CBOT wheat falls; gains in soy help lift corn
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures rallied and soymeal hit a contract high on Friday on strong demand for U.S. supplies, analysts said. U.S. soymeal exports are on their way to new highs this season after a poor soybean harvest in top soymeal exporter Argentina earlier this year. Domestic soymeal users, […] Read more
Robots may help grain farmers diversify
Tech could support labour-intensive higher-value crops
Chuck Baresich, who owns an agricultural robotics business in Ontario, says controlling weeds with robots is probably best suited for high-value, horticultural crops in Canada. However, large-scale grain farmers could also use the technology if they think about it differently. “Let’s say my brother and me are growing 1,500 acres of corn,” said Baresich, who […] Read more
U.S. grains: Wheat up off two-week low on Ukraine export uncertainty
Ukraine denies suspension of Black Sea export corridor
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures rose from a two-week low on Thursday on jitters about supply risks from the Ukraine war. Ukraine, a major grain exporter, has been using a Black Sea shipping channel to try to revive its seaborne shipments without Russian approval after Moscow in July quit a […] Read more
More acres expected for soybeans, canola, Rabobank says
RaboResearch arm sees Canada's exporters 'struggling' with margins
MarketsFarm — Farmers in the U.S. will seed more soybeans in 2024-25, with Canadian canola plantings also expected to rise to a lesser extent, according to a grains and oilseeds analyst with RaboResearch Food and AgriBusiness, a division of the Dutch multinational bank Rabobank at the firm’s Fall Harvest Outlook webinar. During the Wednesday webinar, […] Read more
Prairie Forecast: Arctic high slowly moving out
Issued Oct. 25, covering Oct. 25 to Nov. 1
As is often the case at this time of the year, the weather models got the general picture right, but the finer details were much to be desired. Usually, the models struggle with the forecast beyond two to five days out, but for much of this forecast period they struggled with the finer details on […] Read more
Seaway strike backs up Ontario grain
Prairie grain may follow suit if strike backs up traffic via Thunder Bay, GFO warns
The nature of eastern Canadian grain logistics, and a strike by St. Lawrence Seaway workers who operate the system’s canals, will see cascading impacts across the system if the situation isn’t resolved quickly, according to Crosby Devitt, CEO of Grain Farmers of Ontario. Unifor workers in both Ontario and Quebec walked off the job Sunday […] Read more
U.S. grains: Corn, soy, wheat futures sag as beneficial rains hit South America
Rains benefit Argentina's core farmland
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. grain and soybean futures ended lower on Wednesday as favourable rains reached crop belts in South America and the U.S., analysts said. Traders are watching global weather after drought has hurt crop production in Argentina and the U.S. Plains and slowed soybean plantings in Brazil. South American conditions are particularly […] Read more
Carbon tax exemption bill C-234 clears Senate committee
Divided senators defeated an amendment to make it more difficult to extend the bill's sunset clause
In final committee deliberations on Oct. 24, an amendment that would make it more difficult to extend the bill’s sunset clause was defeated with a tied vote.