A sign of spring: New Blue Book is now on sale

A sign of spring: New Blue Book is now on sale

Reading Time: < 1 minute The 2022 edition of the Blue Book is now on sale. Alberta’s wheat, barley, canola and pulse commissions, which took over the popular publication last year from the provincial Ag Ministry, are adding new features. “Along with annual updates to crop protection products and information, enhancements to the 2021 Blue Book included a revised sprayer […] Read more

A 2018 aerial view of Pipeline Foods’ grain elevator at Gull Lake in southwestern Saskatchewan. (Pipeline Foods video screengrab via YouTube)

Bankrupt organic firm’s Prairie growers to be paid

CGC to issue compensation

Over four dozen Prairie grain growers who supplied a Minneapolis firm specializing in organic and non-GMO grains will get paid in full, the Canadian Grain Commission says. The CGC on Tuesday announced the results of its review of producer claims in the wake of last July’s bankruptcy filing by Pipeline Foods, whose footprint in Canada […] Read more


Greenleaf Foods, a subsidiary of meat processor Maple Leaf Foods, last month began providing its plant-based Lightlife Chick’n Tenders to convenience chain 7-Eleven in Canada. (Dave Bedard photo)

ADM releases alternative protein outlook for 2022

MarketsFarm — Major U.S. agribusiness ADM released a report Tuesday identifying the seven biggest trends in the alternative protein market, ranging from creating new protein sources from fungi to making plant-based meat substitutes more affordable and palatable to the general public. The seven trends in the report were: introduction of novel protein sources, using microbial […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

StatsCan confirms tight grain and oilseed stocks

Canadian corn stocks up on year

MarketsFarm — Canada’s tight supplies of canola, wheat and other crops following the 2021 Prairie drought received more confirmation from Statistics Canada with the release of updated stocks data on Tuesday. Canola stocks, as of Dec. 31, 2021, of 7.6 million tonnes were down 43 per cent from the previous year and the tightest since […] Read more


AAFC’s Drought Monitor map effective Jan. 31, 2022. (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)

Drought conditions ease slightly across Prairies

MarketsFarm — Mixed precipitation throughout January helped drought conditions improve across much of the Canadian Prairies during the month, according to the latest Drought Monitor report from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), released Tuesday. Conditions have deteriorated in some areas, however, and the majority of Western Canada was still in some kind of drought state. […] Read more

(Bondarillia/iStock/Getty Images)

Pulse weekly outlook: Pulse stocks drop due to drought

MarketsFarm — Statistics Canada’s latest report on stocks of principal field crops clearly demonstrated how much of an effect last summer’s historic drought in Western Canada had on pulse crops. According to the report released Tuesday, last December’s total domestic stocks for dry peas, chickpeas, lentils and soybeans all declined from the year earlier. Those […] Read more


File photo of cropland in Greece. (Urbazon/iStock/Getty Images)

Greek farmers stage tractor protest against soaring energy costs

Larissa | Reuters — Farmers in central Greece on Friday protested with hundreds of tractors against soaring energy costs, dismissing government support measures as inadequate and demanding more help to cope with rising prices. The farmers parked tractors on a national highway near the town of Larissa in central Greece, where they faced off with […] Read more

Lentils. (Seb_ra/iStock/Getty Images)

Pulse weekly outlook: Lentil prices decline, may shift in spring

MarketsFarm — Prices for Canadian lentils, along with other pulses in the country, have slightly declined since the start of 2022. However, one pulse buyer thinks the next few months can recharge the market. Lionel Ector, president of Diefenbaker Spice and Pulse at Elbow, Sask., explained that a good Australian lentil harvest in December has […] Read more


File photo of Canpotex potash cars. (Dave Bedard photo)

Nutrien eyes potash production boost amid turmoil in Russia, Belarus

Idled Saskatchewan mines could be restarted

Winnipeg | Reuters — Nutrien, the world’s biggest potash miner, could boost production by up to 29 per cent in coming years, depending on any sanctions facing rival producers in Russia and Belarus, the Canadian company’s interim CEO told Reuters. Prices of granular potash fertilizer are near 10-year highs in the United States and Brazil, […] Read more

Crews work as Canadian Pacific Railway tracks are suspended above the washed-out Tank Hill underpass of the Trans-Canada Highway after devastating rain storms caused flooding and landslides, northeast of Lytton, B.C. on Nov. 20, 2021. (Photo: B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure handout via Reuters)

Year-end profits up for CN, CP despite lower grain handles

Railways' ledgers weather drought, B.C. disasters

Both of Canada’s big two railways were able to improve their overall gross and net in 2021 over 2020 despite a yield-robbing drought and disastrous track and bridge washouts in southern British Columbia. Canadian National Railway (CN) on Tuesday reported 2021 net income of $4.892 billion on $14.477 billion in gross revenue, up from $3.784 […] Read more