Want to get paid for storing grain?

Want to get paid for storing grain?

Taking advantage of a strong carrying charge market can make you some money, says market analyst

Reading Time: 2 minutes Confused about the price spread for crops between delivery months? Sometimes the spread between future month prices for crops with a futures market is particularly noticeable. The amount of carrying charge is a measure of what the market is paying to store the crop from one period to the next, said provincial crop market analyst […] Read more




Grain handler Viterra’s system allows growers to create contracts online 24/7 via smartphone. (Paul Ketcheson photo)

Viterra offers up 24/7 online grain contracting

Prairie grain growers doing business with Glencore Agriculture’s Viterra arm can now create their own grain contracts with the company anytime online. In what it describes as the “first and only full range” of online contracting options for farmers in Western Canada, Viterra launched its new system on its myViterra platform in December. A Prairie […] Read more


(Serts/iStock/Getty Images)

Unregistered peas, lentils to be demoted

Any unregistered varieties of lentils or peas harvested in Canada this fall or later will be graded No. 3 Canada at best. The Canadian Grain Commission on Wednesday announced only registered varieties of peas and lentils will be eligible for the No. 1 Canada grade effective Aug. 1 this year. Deliveries of registered and unregistered […] Read more

(File photo by Dave Bedard)

CP books higher Q4 grain revenue on reduced handle

Increased revenue from grain handling — albeit on a slightly lower overall grain handle — helped Canadian Pacific Railway improve its fourth-quarter and year-end gross for 2018. Calgary-based CP on Jan. 23 reported overall net income of $545 million on $2.006 billion in revenues for its fourth quarter ending Dec. 31, down from $984 million […] Read more



Botaneco — a Calgary company that extracts oils from oilseeds sourced from the Prairies — is being held up as an example of what value-added processing could do for the oilseed sector.

Protein supercluster to launch this spring

Protein Industries Canada will soon be actively seeking proposals

Reading Time: 4 minutes A government-backed bid to turn Western Canada into a plant protein superpower is nearing the end of its startup phase and will launch this spring. “We’re hoping to be open for business and ready to launch a call for proposals in April,” said Bill Greuel, CEO of Protein Industries Canada. The federal government is contributing […] Read more


USDA’s main home page on Jan. 11, 2019. (GFM Staff photo)

USDA extends deadline for aid after shutdown

Washington | Reuters — U.S. farmers now have until Feb. 14 to apply for federal aid designed to offset the impact of retaliatory Chinese tariffs on American crops, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Monday, after delays caused by the month-long government shutdown. The previous deadline for the aid program, officially known as the […] Read more

Using a sweep net is a standard method for determining the level of a pest infestation, 
but federal researcher Haley Catton, shown here, wants to give farmers a better way to gauge the level of beneficial insects and whether it makes sense to spray.

If this is the future, it can’t come soon enough

Unless you love writing cheques for inputs, you’ll want to cheer on the work of these three scientists

Reading Time: 7 minutes Grow more with less — that’s the goal of three Alberta researchers whose work could revolutionize the way we grow cereals. “Canadian agriculture will be facing quite high demand for food production because of the growing global population and reduction in arable land,” said federal research biologist Alicja Ziemienowicz. “We’re trying to give you the […] Read more