Photo: Canada Beef

Klassen: Feeder market to start 2023 on firm tone

Counter-seasonal behaviour expected

There were no market reports last week due to the holiday season; however, I still received a few calls from cattle producers regarding the feeder market outlook for the first quarter of 2023. The feeder market finished 2022 at 52-week highs. Steers averaging 500 lbs. were readily trading over the psychological $300 level while 900-lb. […] Read more

Grain bins in a Saskatchewan field. (MysticEnergy/iStock/Getty Images)

Feed weekly outlook: Grain, price movement ongoing over holidays

Colder weather stymies deliveries

MarketsFarm — With the Christmas break come and gone, more grain is being delivered to feedlots, according to one Lethbridge trader. Mike Fleischhauer of Eagle Commodities Ltd. said that despite the holiday season, in which lighter activity is expected, there was still some movement in feed grain prices. Wheat and barley were both valued at […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

No leadership change prior to grain groups’ merger

Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta Barley’s senior leaders are staying on as the farm group heads toward amalgamation with Alberta Wheat. Following its AGM earlier this month, the organization said Acme producer Tara Sawyer is staying on as chair and Roy Newman, who farms in the Blackie area, will continue to serve as vice-chair. “During this critical time period […] Read more

Barley. (Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Feed weekly outlook: Alberta barley bids steady heading into holidays

MarketsFarm — The Lethbridge feed grain market is holding relatively steady heading into the holiday season, with ample imports of corn from the U.S. keeping a lid on prices. Reports out of Alberta’s feedlot alley peg the upper edge of delivered barley bids in the $430-$435 area, with feed wheat seeing similar prices. Feedlots are […] Read more


Three of the five strips where no PGR was applied (outlined in black) showed a considerable amount of severe lodging.

Trial examines plant growth regulators under real-life conditions

There was a reduction in lodging but PGR effectiveness depends on the product, variety and location

Reading Time: 4 minutes Do plant growth regulators reduce lodging in wheat? They had an impact, but not a huge one, in an on-farm field trial done under the Plot2Farm program this year. “What we’ve seen is that they are not a silver bullet when it comes to lodging,” said Jeremy Boychyn, agronomy research extension manager for Alberta Barley […] Read more

A November photo from Waterloo Brewing’s company blog promoting its “apple crumble porter” from its 2022 Signature Series Winter Collection. (WaterlooBrewing.com)

Carlsberg to buy Ontario’s Waterloo Brewing

Danish brewing giant paying $144 million to scale up Canadian business

One of the world’s biggest beer companies is moving to expand its brewing capacity on Canadian soil with a $144 million deal for Kitchener-based Waterloo Brewing. Carlsberg Group on Wednesday announced an all-cash deal worth $4 per share for all shares of Waterloo Brewing, which bills itself as the largest Canadian-owned brewery in Ontario and […] Read more



“I would encourage producers who plan to grow barley in 2023 to consider a new malt variety if they have not already.” – Peter Watts.

The old guard in malt barley is starting to give way

Two up-and-comers top the recommended list from the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre

Reading Time: 3 minutes The short list of recommended malt barley varieties is even shorter this year and a familiar name is missing. There are only four on this year’s list of varieties recommended by the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre. “At the top of the list this year are two of Canada’s newer varieties, AAC Connect and CDC […] Read more


CBOT March 2023 oats with 20- and 50-day moving averages. (Barchart)

Feed weekly outlook: Wheat, barley eschewed for other grains

Oats, corn finding demand as feed

MarketsFarm — Feed wheat and barley prices in Alberta’s feedlot alley are coming down, largely due to the increasing presence of corn imported from the U.S. The high-delivered bid for Alberta feed barley on Wednesday was $9.80 per bushel, 11 cents lower than the previous week and 22 cents lower than one month earlier, according […] Read more

Photo: File

Australia looking at record wheat, canola crops

Near-record winter crop output expected

MarketsFarm — Australia is forecast to harvest record-large wheat and canola crops in 2022-23, with improved crop prospects in many parts of the country more than offsetting losses in others. That analysis comes from the latest crop report from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES), released Tuesday. Total production of […] Read more