Chickpea curry. (Modesigns58/iStock/Getty Images)

Pulse weekly outlook: Chickpea market neither bullish nor bearish

Market players awaiting harvest

MarketsFarm — Hot and dry growing conditions earlier in the growing season cut into Canada’s chickpea yields in 2023-24, but quality should be good if the weather co-operates through the harvest. Canadian farmers planted 315,600 acres of chickpeas in 2023, which was well above the 233,800 acres seeded the previous year, according to Statistics Canada […] Read more

Field peas. (Lisa Guenther photo)

Pulse weekly outlook: Average yields expected for Manitoba crops

Beans, soy may still benefit if rain comes

MarketsFarm — Pulse crops in Manitoba fared well against the elements which included sporadic rainfall and normal to below-normal temperatures for much of the past month. Provincial pulse specialist Dennis Lange in Altona said field peas should begin harvesting operations next week. “As far as pea acres go, we’re looking at about 145,000 acres. That’s […] Read more


Aerial view of Centerm, a Burrard Inlet terminal for containerized cargo at the Port of Vancouver. (Bloodua/iStock/Getty Images)

B.C. longshore workers ratify new deal

Minister pledges review of 'how disruption on this scale unfolded'

Longshore workers at British Columbia’s seaports have voted to accept the terms of a new four-year labour deal, ending five weeks of labour outages at Canada’s West Coast. Negotiators with the B.C. Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) and International Labour and Warehouse Union (ILWU Canada), working with the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB), reached a new […] Read more

(Photo: Reuters/Diego Vara)

Saskatchewan Crop Report: Dryness continues as harvest begins 

Since April 1, the entirety of the province received 200 mm or less of rain

MarketsFarm – With the exception of a handful of areas, most of Saskatchewan remained dry for the week ended July 31 as harvest operations began in the province’s southwest and west-central regions. Areas north of Prince Albert and northwest of Kindersley, as well as inside and around Hudson Bay each saw more than 30 millimetres […] Read more


Green lentils. (Savany/iStock/Getty Images)

Pulse weekly outlook: lentils poised to go either way pricewise 

Everything is dependent on the yields come harvest says analyst

MarketsFarm – Before the harvest of lentils gets underway across the Canadian Prairies, there has been some speculation as to which way prices could go, according to Levon Sargsyan of Johnston’s Grain.  “Of the two stories I’m getting, one is from farmers, and one is from buyers, and of course there’s bias,” Sargsyan commented.  “[The […] Read more

Photo: Thinkstock

Strike’s impact on grain movement yet to come

Port workers union, employers reached a tentative agreement Monday morning but backlog likely to linger

MarketsFarm, Reuters – Despite grain movement at Canada’s West Coast ports not being really affected by the British Columbia port workers strike in July, there’s a good chance for issues to arise in the coming months, according to Mark Hemmes, president of Quorum Corp. “The volume of grain that moved in the last three weeks […] Read more


  Photo: Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko/File

Saskatchewan crops a mixed bag 

Some cereal crops beyond harvesting with plans to salvage for feed

Marketsfarm – There was a wide mixture of the results in the latest crop report from Saskatchewan Agriculture. Parts of the province were hobbled by drought conditions, while other areas received upwards to 40 millimetres of rain following a series of thunderstorms during the week of July 18 to 26.  The desiccation of pulse crops […] Read more

Photo: Thinkstock

Pulse weekly outlook: recent rains could stabilize crops 

Prices for pulses across Western Canada have been steady

Marketsfarm – Despite the rain the Canadian Prairies received since July 17, MarketsFarm Pro analyst Mike Jubinville pointed out that the major pulse crop areas got very little.  While any precipitation has been beneficial to this year’s crops struggling with dry conditions, Jubinville said, it won’t help that much.  “In terms of advancing pea and […] Read more


dry earth, drought crop

AFSC announce changes to low yield allowances

Reading Time: < 1 minute Agriculture Financial Services Corp. is adjusting the low yield allowance for 2023 to encourage farmers to put more poor-quality crops toward livestock feed in dry areas. For 2023, AFSC is doubling the low yield threshold to allow for additional cereal or pulse crops to be salvaged for livestock feed. For example, the barley crop threshold […] Read more

  Photo: Greg Berg

AAFC lowers Canadian wheat ending stocks estimates

Drop in estimated oats carryout another notable adjustment

 MarketsFarm – Canadian wheat ending stocks for both the current marketing year and 2023/24 (Aug/Jul) were revised lower by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s market analysis division in its updated supply/demand estimates, released July 21, with tighter oats and pulse stocks also expected.  Wheat ending stocks for 2022/23 were lowered to 3.540 million tonnes by AAFC, […] Read more