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Prairie cash wheat: Bids rally on tightening supplies, drought

U.S. March wheat futures gain on week

MarketsFarm — New supply data from both sides of the Canada/U.S. border, as well as ongoing drought in wheat growing regions, have supported western Canadian wheat bids for the week ended Thursday. The U.S. Department of Agriculture released its monthly supply/demand estimates on Wednesday and cut its projected global wheat supply estimate for the 2021-22 […] Read more

Standing corn north of St. Adolphe, Man. on Sept. 19, 2021. (Dave Bedard photo)

Feed weekly outlook: Corn seeing higher prices, transportation delays

MarketsFarm — Corn has become the primary feed grain in Alberta feedlots due to its lower price compared to barley and wheat. However, rising corn prices in the U.S. and transportation issues are causing some buyers to give pause. “Basic levels are a little bit stronger. (Add in) the exchange rate, there are a little […] Read more


A supplied aerial photo of vehicles blocking through traffic on Feb. 1, 2022 at the Canada-U.S. border crossing between Coutts, Alta. and Sweet Grass, Montana. (Photo courtesy Alberta RCMP)

Feed weekly outlook: Alberta blockade affects feed grain deliveries

MarketsFarm — A truck blockade at a Canada-U.S. border crossing at Coutts, Alta. has caused some headaches for grain buyers in southern parts of the province. Since Saturday, commercial trucks and other vehicles have blocked Highway 4, a 103-km stretch which runs from the border to Lethbridge, to protest COVID-19 health measures. On the U.S. […] Read more

These kind of variants we want

Reading Time: < 1 minute A new research project, partly funded by Alberta Wheat and its provincial cousins, aims to use naturally occurring genetic variations to boost both uptake and use of applied phosphorus and nitrogen. “Typical crop plants only take up around 50 per cent of the phosphorus and nitrogen fertilizer applied by farmers,” said researcher Leon Kochian of […] Read more


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Prairie cash wheat: Bids mixed amid conflicting influences

MarketsFarm — Wheat bids across Western Canada were mixed during the week ended Thursday, as losses in U.S. futures were countered by the supportive influence of a weaker Canadian dollar. Average Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS, 13.5 per cent protein) wheat prices were down by $7.60-$11.60 per tonne, according to price quotes from a cross-section […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Feed weekly outlook: Markets facing uncertainty

MarketsFarm — Feed grain markets in Western Canada are facing some uncertainty amid tight domestic supplies and reports of transportation issues bringing up corn from the United States. “It’s very strange,” said Susanne Leclerc of MarketMaster Ltd. in Alberta. “You see stories like that (reporting on feedlots running low on grain), then you talk to […] Read more


Malt barley challengers gaining ground

Malt barley challengers gaining ground

Reading Time: < 1 minute CDC Copeland is still the most popular malting barley variety in Western Canada but its six-year reign may be coming to an end as AAC Synergy continues to grab acres. Copeland accounted for nearly 35 per cent of western Canadian acres last year — far below its nearly 50 per cent share in 2017 — […] Read more

(WPohlDesign/iStock/Getty Images)

Feed weekly outlook: Status quo for now, but change coming

MarketsFarm — Feed grains in Western Canada have been holding close to the status quo for the last little while, but that’s likely to change, according to Jim Beusekom of Market Place Commodities in Lethbridge. He pointed to increases in corn and wheat this week in U.S. futures markets, in which corn has gained about […] Read more


Wheat yields can be upped without blowing the bank account and a new study aims to find “the low-hanging fruit,” says Sheri Strydhorst, agronomy research specialist with Alberta Wheat and Barley.

New initiative aims to increase Prairie wheat yields

Filling the gap: Yields are only 40 to 70 per cent of their theoretical max, and new study aims to close that gap

Reading Time: 4 minutes Brian Buckman really only has Mother Nature to thank — or blame — for the gap between the yield he’s getting and what’s possible on his wheat fields. “A perfect example was 2020 — we hit it out of the ballpark with the best yield we ever had, and then in 2021, we saw the […] Read more

CBOT March 2022 oats (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (yellow, brown and dark green lines). (Barchart)

Oat prices, acres to rise in 2022, analyst says

MarketsFarm — An independent crop market analyst told Saskatchewan oat growers he is bullish for the crop in 2022. Brennan Turner, founder and former CEO of online crop marketing platforms FarmLead and Combyne Ag, delivered a presentation at the Saskatchewan Oat Development Commission’s (SaskOats) annual general meeting in Saskatoon on Wednesday. Turner, a Foam Lake […] Read more