Reading Time: 2 minutes Spring wheat could be the sleeper crop in 2009, according to market analyst Mike Krueger. The Fargo, N. D.-based president of The Money Farm consulting service has told his clients to lock in diesel fuel prices, if they can, and secure spring fertilizer supplies because it could be short. Krueger told the Manitoba Special Crops […] Read more
Is Wheat The Sleeper Crop?
CashPlus Only Malt Option Now
Reading Time: 3 minutes “The PRO at this point is not reflective of the current market, which is hugely volatile.” – MAUREEN FITZHENRY, CWB The Canadian Wheat Board has moved to protect record returns to its malting barley pool from volatile and declining world prices. The CWB announced January 29 that further malting barley sales will now be made […] Read more
Pelissier durum program runs to Dec. 19
Farmers have until Dec. 19 to sign up for the Canadian Wheat Board’s special one-time delivery program for Pelissier, a Canadian Western Amber Durum (CWAD) wheat de-registered Aug. 1, 2007. The program is designed to encourage farmers to clean out all stocks of the variety. Upon delivery farmers will be paid based on a grade […] Read more
Farms will keep getting bigger
Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa Thirteen per cent of Canadian farmers produce 64 per cent of all agricultural production in Canada, says Lyndon Carlson, Farm Credit Canada’s vice-president of marketing. It’s another indication of the trend, which will continue, to bigger farms, he told the CropLife Canada meeting here Dec. 2. “There are pros and cons, big farms (versus) […] Read more
Credit flowing to Canuck farmers
Reading Time: 2 minutes We’re not seeing a host of people lining up at the door because the bank has kicked them out. “ – Lyndon Carlson Credit will continue to flow to Canadian farmers despite a global credit crunch that has decimated stock markets and triggered a global recession, says Lyndon Carlson, Farm Credit Canada’s senior vice-president of […] Read more
Ontario law threatens farm pesticides
Reading Time: 2 minutes OTTAWA Ontario’s “arbitrary” ban on “cosmetic” pesticides threatens their use in agriculture, says CropLife Canada. “This is about more than just dandelions,” CropLife president Lorne Hepworth warned the 350 people attending CropLife’s annual meeting here Dec. 3. “It’s about agriculture and the not-so-subtle impact this has on the impressions Canadians have about food production and […] Read more
Repeat of 1980s for agriculture unlikely, economists say
Reading Time: 3 minutes A farm economy that’s swung from unparalleled optimism to uncertainty in just a matter of months might appear to be a repeat of two decades ago, but there’s more to the story than meets the eye, said two Purdue University agricultural economists. Although commodity prices are cascading in response to the global financial crisis, farmers […] Read more
Economist sees “wonky” canola basis anomalies
Reading Time: 3 minutes There are times when the canola basis – the difference between canola futures contract price and the net elevator price to the western Canadian farmer – seems “wonky,” says University of Manitoba agricultural economist Derek Brewin. But based on his research so far he can’t tell whether there’s a legitimate reason or whether buyers are […] Read more
Can Stockwell Day end supply management?
Reading Time: 2 minutes “I think the government has to look after the whole country” – Darcy Davis Vancouver Canada’s agricultural supply management sector may meet its match in Stockwell Day, the new federal Minister of International Trade. At least that’s what the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance (CAFTA) is hoping. “I think he comes from the right side of […] Read more
Poor rail service hurts grain competitiveness
Reading Time: 3 minutes Vancouver If Paterson Grain serviced its customers the way the railways service Paterson Grain, it wouldn’t get much repeat business, according to Keith Bruch, the company’s vice-president of operations. “If we (said) ‘We’ll sell you 10,000 tonnes of canola and we promise to deliver 80 per cent of that, and only 90 per cent of […] Read more
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