Chicago | Reuters — Cashing in on rising demand for imitation meat, major retailers including Kroger and Walmart recently began to carry Beyond Meat’s plant-based burgers and sausages. Now, several stores are creating similar products that will compete with Beyond Meat. Kroger Co., the biggest U.S. grocer, on Wednesday rolled out its own line of […] Read more
Major grocers roll out plant-based burgers, undercut Beyond Meat
Pulse weekly outlook: Red lentils see some strength
MarketsFarm — The red lentil market in Western Canada is seeing some life to start the New Year, with improved bids creating some marketing opportunities. “Green lentil prices have been steady since the end of 2019, but red lentils are the one that’s jumped,” said Kevin Silzer, vice-president with Rayglen Commodities in Saskatoon, noting red […] Read more
ILTA Grain security payout to be CGC’s biggest ever
An insurance policy set up for demised Prairie pulse exporter ILTA Grain will pay, in full, what’s owed to over 200 growers who supplied the company, according to the Canadian Grain Commission. The CGC announced Monday that 222 eligible unpaid growers will receive a total of $11.146 million covered by the security ILTA posted before […] Read more
2019 was a difficult year — but also one of great progress
Lots of things didn’t go right in 2019, but there are many reasons why Alberta is a great place to farm
Reading Time: 5 minutes It could have been so much better. If China hadn’t got mad at us. If there hadn’t been a trade war. If PED hadn’t arrived. If the weather had been a bit more co-operative. But the past year was also a reminder that efforts to make things better do pay off. Look no further than […] Read more
Ocean freight rates trending lower
MarketsFarm — The Baltic Dry Index has fallen sharply over the past four months, dropping below 1,000 points to start the New Year. A slowdown in iron-ore activity, as high prices have had Chinese mills buying up domestic inventories rather than importing from overseas, accounted for much of the general weakness in the freight sector, […] Read more
Syngenta owner ChemChina to merge ag assets with Sinochem’s
Zurich | Reuters — ChemChina and Sinochem are consolidating their agricultural assets into a new holding company to be called Syngenta Group, ChemChina unit Syngenta said on Sunday. Chen Lichtenstein, current CEO of Shenzhen-listed crop protection company Adama, which will also be incorporated into the new group, will be nominated chief financial officer of the […] Read more
Pulse weekly outlook: Edible bean yields lower across North America
MarketsFarm — A challenging harvest season spelled trouble for dry bean yields across North America, according to one report from the Global Pulse Confederation. Mexico’s spring-summer bean crop yield was pegged at around 400,000 tonnes, which was 52 per cent lower than the previous year. The loss in production was largely due to drought conditions […] Read more
CN, CP come in under 2018-19 grain revenue caps
Changes to federal rail transport rules that took effect in 2018 have put Canada’s big two railways well under their new Prairie grain revenue caps for the 2018-19 crop year. The Canadian Transportation Agency on Monday announced Canadian National Railway (CN) booked 2018-19 Prairie grain revenue of $933,357,710, a figure $371,116 below what the CTA […] Read more
Manitoba gathering data to press case for exempting grain drying from federal carbon tax
The Manitoba government is gathering data to make the case for exempting grain drying fuels from the federal government’s carbon tax. “So we’ll get the numbers together and then to (federal agriculture) Minister (Marie-Claude) Bibeau and we’ll continue to lobby on behalf of our ag producers,” Manitoba’s Agriculture and Resource Development Minister Blaine Pederson said […] Read more
Bad doesn’t begin to describe situation of unharvested fields
Reading Time: < 1 minute “Cleaning up the acres left out in the spring will be no small task.” So reads the provincial Ag Ministry’s final crop report of 2019. It estimates 10.4 per cent of crops are still in the field — on par with the dismal 2016 season (when 10.3 per cent was unharvested). But that number doesn’t […] Read more
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