Washington/New York | Reuters –– The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday made good on its proposal to effectively ban artificial trans fats from a wide range of foods, from microwave popcorn to frozen pizza, saying they raise the risk of heart disease. Under new FDA regulations, partially hydrogenated oils, which have been shown […] Read more

U.S. FDA to cut trans fats from foods

Brazil’s grain ports seen facing record volumes
Sao Paulo | Reuters — Brazil’s grain ports will endeavour to move the last of a record soybean crop just as a huge corn harvest starts competing for terminal space, testing the country’s export capacity, an analyst at local consultancy Agroconsult said. Brazil is exporting much of a record 96 million-tonne soybean crop and, starting […] Read more

Richardson buying bigger margarine market share
Prairie grain and agrifood firm Richardson International is going long on shortening with a deal for major Canadian margarine firm Golden Gate. Privately-held, Winnipeg-based Richardson is no stranger to the margarine business as the owner of the Canola Harvest brand, having bought Canbra Foods in 1999 and Innovative Foods in 2011. Owned and operated by […] Read more

Some timetables loosen as Ont. neonic limits become law
Ontario’s corn and soybean growers and seed dealers will have slightly more time to manage some of their new duties as the province’s limits on neonicotinoid pesticides become legally binding. Ontario’s environment ministry on Tuesday announced its new provincial regulations — with a handful of changes from the draft legislation first published in March — […] Read more

CME bars grain traders for years over wash trades, spoofing
Chicago | Reuters –– CME Group said Friday it barred a grain trader from its markets for three years for executing noncompetitive transactions and suspended another for two years for market manipulation. The traders, Aleksey Vsemirnov and Stephen Duggan, could not immediately be reached for comment. Vsemirnov executed numerous non-competitive transactions in wheat, oats, rice, […] Read more

Sask., Man. soybeans survive with minor complications
CNS Canada — Soybean crops have persevered through the frosty spring for the most part, agricultural experts in Manitoba and Saskatchewan say. Though farmers are still in the process of assessing damage, most plants had not yet emerged from the ground in both provinces when temperatures fell below freezing at the end of May. Kristen […] Read more

CBOT weekly outlook: Soybeans to break below US$9 before summer half over
CNS Canada –– The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soybean market showed some short-covering-related firmness during the week ended Wednesday, but the bias is still pointed lower for the oilseed. “We could actually see the beans trade down to the low $9, then to an $8 handle. Maybe $8.90 would be my initial target for […] Read more

Pearce: GFO goes informative rather than inflammatory
It’s not that farmers in Ontario aren’t frustrated and angry concerning legislation aimed at curbing the use of neonicotinoid seed treatments. They are. However, during a protest Friday in front of Ontario Deputy Premier Deb Matthews’ riding office in London, executives with the Grain Farmers of Ontario and roughly 35 farmers took a more proactive […] Read more

CBOT weekly outlook: Corn, soy under pressure amid abundant supplies
CNS Canada — Chicago Board of Trade corn and soybean markets drifted lower during the week ended Wednesday and are expected to remain under pressure in coming weeks. The softness in both markets is likely because of large domestic and global supplies for corn and soybeans, said Ken Ball of PI Financial in Winnipeg. “Buyers […] Read more

El Nino seen bringing drought to Brazil’s north, heavy rains to south
Sao Paulo | Reuters –– Brazil will likely experience a moderate El Nino by the end of the year, bringing steady rain to the country’s main grain-producing regions and sustained drought in the arid north, the national meteorological institute, Inmet, said. Inmet meteorologist Fabricio Daniel dos Santos Silva said six consecutive quarters of warming sea […] Read more