Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau is not considering ordering producers to withdraw from their AgriInvest accounts. “Not in this way. All the options are on the table for the future, but I’ve never considered asking them to withdraw, to empty their accounts, to face COVID-19,” she said in an interview Friday. Bibeau had previously expressed […] Read more
Bibeau not considering closing AgriInvest accounts
Minister wouldn't order farmers to pull funds
Grain traffic at Thunder Bay up 27 per cent on year
MarketsFarm — Grain movement through the Port of Thunder Bay is reported to be up 27 per cent compared to the previous year halfway through the 2020 shipping season. A total of 5.05 million tonnes of grain were shipped through Thunder Bay as of Aug. 31, port officials said in a release. That compares with […] Read more
COVID-19 means harvest will be ‘especially challenging’
You need all hands on deck, but what if someone shows symptoms of a cold or flu?
Reading Time: 4 minutes This year’s harvest is not going to be a normal one — and farmers and their families need to make adjustments accordingly, says the executive director of AgSafe Alberta. “It’s a significant challenge on farms because we’re looking at a cropping season that could last from now until November, so we have to manage people […] Read more
Dreyfus reportedly in talks to sell stake to Abu Dhabi’s ADQ
Reuters — Commodity trader Louis Dreyfus Corp. is in talks to sell a stake to Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. For the privately held company, which has been facing a challenging business environment, bringing external investors would be a first in its 169-year […] Read more
Pulse weekly outlook: Large Canadian crops expected
MarketsFarm — Canada will have grown a record-large pea crop in 2020 and possibly the second-largest lentil crop ever, according to preliminary estimates from Statistics Canada, released Monday. Using satellite imagery and model-based yield estimates, the government agency pegged the 2020-21 Canadian field pea crop at 4.996 million tonnes. That would be a new record […] Read more
Seed groups weigh options as CSGA rejects merger
Grower group's membership calls nay on Seeds Canada amalgamation
The boards of five national seed sector groups planning a major merger are considering their next move after a less-than-unanimous vote on the proposal. Members of the Canadian Plant Technology Agency (CPTA), Commercial Seed Analysts Association of Canada (CSAAC), Canadian Seed Growers’ Association (CSGA), Canadian Seed Institute (CSI) and Canadian Seed Trade Association (CSTA) had […] Read more
Syngenta says IPO ‘on track’
Ag chem firm books higher first-half profit
Zurich | Reuters — Agricultural chemical maker Syngenta posted higher first-half profit and sales on Thursday, helped by maintaining supplies to farmers and controlling costs during the coronavirus outbreak, and said it was on track to complete its public listing by mid-2022. The Swiss company, bought by state-owned ChemChina for $43 billion in 2017, posted […] Read more
No repeat of the ‘harvest from hell,’ says weather forecaster
Reading Time: < 1 minute The fall harvest season will be somewhat wetter than normal but nothing like last year, according to AccuWeather. There is also a low risk for an early freeze, meteorologist and Canada weather expert Brett Anderson said in the company’s fall forecast on Aug. 14. “The latest signals favour most regions having a low risk of […] Read more
Durum and lentils bright spots as demand picks up
International buyers have been looking to Canada for both supply and high quality
Reading Time: 3 minutes A lot of things have been bad in 2020, but there have been a few good things. Durum and pulses prices fall in the good column. Poor prices in 2018 led to a drop in durum acreage last year, said Geoff Backman, manager of business development and markets for Alberta Wheat and Alberta Barley. Italy’s […] Read more
Pulse weekly outlook: Harvest activity pressures lentils
MarketsFarm — With harvest activity beginning across most of the Prairies, pulse prices are experiencing typical harvest pressure. About 20 per cent of the lentil crop has been harvested in Saskatchewan, according to the province’s crop report from Thursday. The west-central region lagged furthest behind the province’s average rate, with just seven per cent of […] Read more
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