Argentine farmers to halt crop sales for three days in protest

Buenos Aires | Reuters –– Argentine farmers will suspend grain sales for three days to protest export quotas and other government policies they say hurt profits, the country’s main growers’ organizations said Tuesday. The strike will start on Wednesday, March 11, leaders of three of Argentina’s biggest farm groups told a press conference. “This action […] Read more



(Bruce Fritz photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Optimism for Canada to plant 100K acres to sunflowers

CNS Canada — Wet weather may have cost western Canadian producers 20,000 acres of sunflowers last year, according to one industry watcher who’s hopeful 2015 will be a little kinder. “We were anticipating over 100,000 acres last year and as it turned out we came into that 80,000 range,” said Ben Friesen, purchasing manager for […] Read more

Argentina to restrict wheat export permits if low prices paid

Buenos Aires | Reuters –– Wheat exporters who buy the grain from Argentina’s farmers will not be issued permits if they pay the growers significantly less than the international price for the crop, the government said Friday. The announcement, by Economy Minister Axel Kicillof, followed complaints by local producers that government restrictions on wheat exports […] Read more



Argentina denounces farmer soy hoarding, says hurts state income

Buenos Aires | Reuters — Argentine growers hoarding soybeans to protect themselves from inflation are hurting both state and farm income in the world’s No. 3 exporter of the oilseed, a top government official said Thursday. The South American country pioneered the use of plastic horizontal silos to stockpile grains. Growers are hanging onto soybeans, […] Read more


Striking port workers in Argentine grains hub halt shipping

Buenos Aires | Reuters — Port workers in part of the Argentine grain hub of Rosario went on strike on Thursday to demand a year-end bonus, paralyzing ship movements, said the head of the powerful CGT union’s local branch. Wage increases are lagging behind Argentina’s soaring inflation rate, which some private economists estimate is around […] Read more



Dry spell to create ideal conditions for Argentine grains

Buenos Aires | Reuters — Heavy rains during the weekend will be followed by a dry spell across much of Argentina’s grains belt, creating ideal growing conditions for the 2014-15 corn and soy crop, a local meteorologist said on Monday. German Heinzenknecht, meteorologist with the (CCA) Applied Climatology Consultancy, said about 50 millimetres fell across […] Read more

Argentina sees wheat harvest of 12 million tonnes

Buenos Aires | Reuters –– Argentine farmers will harvest 12 million tonnes of wheat in the 2014-15 crop year, the agriculture ministry said in its monthly report Thursday, issuing its first wheat crop estimate of the season. Argentina’s 2013-14 wheat harvest was 9.2 million tonnes, according to official data. “Losses have been seen in parts […] Read more