Hamburg | Reuters — Drought has seriously damaged barley harvests in northern Europe, potentially tightening supplies of animal feed and malt for beer brewing, but a decent crop in France could save the day, experts said on Thursday. “There are painful crop losses in Germany, Poland, Britain and Scandinavia,” one German trader said. “The volume […] Read more
France to the rescue as drought hits EU barley crop
Chinese demand boosting Canadian wheat, barley exports
CNS Canada — China is making major moves to import more Canadian wheat and barley this year. Data released by the Canadian Grain Commission show China more than tripled its wheat imports, taking in 979,100 tonnes as of May, up from 295,300 tonnes in the same period of 2016-17 and an increase of 231.6 per […] Read more
World’s oldest bread found at prehistoric site in Jordan
Washington | Reuters — Charred remains of a flatbread baked about 14,500 years ago in a stone fireplace at a site in northeastern Jordan have given researchers a delectable surprise: people began making bread, a vital staple food, millennia before they developed agriculture. No matter how you slice it, the discovery detailed on Monday shows […] Read more
Canadian canola area likely above earlier projection
CNS Canada — Canadian farmers likely seeded more canola in 2018 than initial expectations, but industry participants generally expect to see only minor adjustments when Statistics Canada releases its latest acreage estimates on Friday. “Our idea is that the canola seeded area number is higher than initially reported,” said Jon Driedger of FarmLink Marketing Solutions. […] Read more
Klassen: Stronger demand sustains feeder cattle market
Western Canadian feeder cattle markets were relatively unchanged from week-ago levels. Feeder cattle numbers are declining at this time of year, so those buyers looking to secure ownership had to be more aggressive. Higher-quality packages were available in Saskatchewan, which traded at a small premium to Alberta markets. In central and southern Alberta, there appeared […] Read more
More than bragging rights at stake in Alberta Wheat’s yield contest
The goal isn’t just getting growers to go big on a few acres, but to share their agronomic practices
Reading Time: 2 minutes Interested in growing a nice big crop of bragging rights? Alberta Wheat is making it easier for the second edition of its Wheat Yield Challenge. “We have tweaked the rules a bit this year, said Brian Kennedy, the crop commission’s grower relations and extension manager. “This year, we are going to compare what the grower […] Read more
‘Terroir’ turns everyday malt into ‘luxury barley’
From central Oregon to Daysland, growers are turning a commodity crop into something unique and special
Reading Time: 6 minutes Whisky from Scotland’s Isle of Islay. Champagne from its namesake region of France. Craft malt from Daysland, Alberta. People will pay a premium for all sorts of specialty products — as long as they like the taste. The brewing industry isn’t quite there yet, but it could be. Just ask Seth Klann. “We’ll buy wine […] Read more
Three recent barley varieties to check out
Reading Time: < 1 minute Here are three recent barley varieties developed by Agriculture Canada breeders. Roseland is a new two-row spring hulless food barley cultivar with excellent bread-making qualities developed at the Brandon Research and Development Centre. It has improved lodging resistance, higher test weight, and better threshability than check cultivar Millhouse and similar flour quality characteristics to Falcon […] Read more
Bold new plan aims to generate some new love for barley
New action plan targets seven million barley acres and yields of 95 bushels per acre by 2028
Reading Time: 3 minutes The current state of Canada’s barley industry is grim. “Barley’s piece of the pie is shrinking,” said Shannon Sereda, manager of market development and policy for Alberta Barley. “It’s no longer in a dominant position like it once was in Western Canada.” Barley acres across the Prairies have been in a long-term decline, Sereda said […] Read more
Feed barley prices beating out malt
Demand is strong for both feed and malt, but there’s plenty of the latter sitting in warehouses and bins
Reading Time: 3 minutes Farmers with barley in the bin have a bit of a love-hate relationship with barley prices right now. They love that feed prices are so high, but hate that malt prices are so low. “These prices are definitely something — to have feed prices where they’re at right now, it’s definitely out of the norm,” […] Read more
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