A proposed amendment, and a dispute over senatorial behaviour, further geared down progress Tuesday of a federal private member’s bill to carve out a carbon tax exemption for grain drying and heating of barns and greenhouses. Bill C-234, which passed the House of Commons in late March, remained on the Senate’s order paper for debate […] Read more

Internal dispute over privilege, bullying allegations ties up C-234
New amendment to farm fuel bill now under debate
AAFC tweaks crop supply/demand estimates in November report
Estimates hold for most exports
MarketsFarm — Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has slightly adjusted its supply/demand estimates for November. AAFC published its latest Outlook for Principal Field Crops on Tuesday. Of Canada’s major crops, the department left the 2023-24 ending stocks for canola at one million tonnes and all wheat at 3.6 million, while all other reported crops were left […] Read more

Pulse weekly outlook: Pea prices beginning to weaken
'Increased export competition' seen
MarketsFarm — With increased export competition, pea prices in Western Canada have slipped back, according to Levon Sargsyan of Johnston Grains in Calgary. “We are hearing that China slowed their imports down from Canada, which is driving the current decrease in prices,” Sargsyan said. “They have increased their imports from countries like Russia, which is […] Read more

Storage strategies change with bigger bins
As storage systems have grown, more attention is needed to keep crops safe
Reading Time: 4 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – In the 1970s, a standard bin was 14 feet in diameter with a capacity of 1,350 bushels. High rollers might add an extra ring to stretch that another 300 bu. There were bins 19 feet in diameter, with a 2,700 bu. capacity, but few farmers bought them because they were hard to […] Read more

Bayer’s crop marketing, crop production platforms in sync
FieldView, Combyne platforms now integrated
Combyne, the made-in-Canada grain marketing platform Bayer bought earlier this year, is now fully on speaking terms with the company’s Climate FieldView precision ag platform. Bayer on Oct. 30 announced integration of the two platforms, which it said will allow grain farmers in Canada and the U.S. to connect their marketing data in Combyne and […] Read more

Seaway workers ratify labour deal
Deal ended one-week strike on waterway
Unionized workers on the St. Lawrence Seaway in Ontario and Quebec have voted their approval of the agreement that brought them in off the picket line. Unifor, which represents about 360 Seaway workers across five locals in the two provinces, announced Thursday its members had voted to ratify a three-year agreement retroactive to April 1. […] Read more

Pulse weekly outlook: Pea exports solid so far, lentils down on year
MarketsFarm — Canadian pea exports are running at a solid pace through the first two months of the 2023-24 marketing year, despite smaller production, as exports of newly-harvested supplies in September nearly quadrupled what moved the previous month. Canada exported 440,085 tonnes of peas in September, up from only 99,645 tonnes the previous month, according […] Read more

Alberta Pulse Growers seeks advisors
Reading Time: < 1 minute Pulse producers who want to grow the province’s pulse industry while developing their own leadership skills are invited to let their names stand for election as an Alberta Pulse Growers advisor at zone meetings this fall. “I strongly encourage any interested pulse farmers to join the APG team,” said chair Shane Strydhorst. “I started out […] Read more

Bunge seeks antitrust approvals for Viterra merger in major jurisdictions
Commodities market competition healthy in Canada, U.S., CEO says
Minneapolis | Reuters — Bunge has filed for regulatory approvals for its merger with crop handler Viterra in “major jurisdictions” in North and South America, Europe and China, and has gotten the green light from some of its smaller markets including Colombia, CEO Greg Heckman said on Thursday. The merger, which would create a company […] Read more

Nutrien misses quarterly profit estimates as potash prices plummet
Fertilizer demand expected to rise in Q4
Reuters — Nutrien fell short of analysts’ estimates for third-quarter profit on Wednesday, as lower potash prices weighed on the world’s biggest fertilizer producer. Potash prices have been falling after shipments from Belarus and Russia resumed. These exports had been significantly restricted last year following Western sanctions imposed on Russia in response to its invasion […] Read more