Reuters – Corteva Inc on Thursday raised its net sales forecast for the year after strong demand for crop protection products such as herbicides and insecticides helped the agricultural company beat estimates for the second quarter. Corteva also announced a new $1.5 billion share repurchase program, in addition to a $1 billion buyback announced in 2019, […] Read more

Corteva lifts sales forecast on strong demand for crop protection products, seeds

Bayer Q2 misses forecasts as costs, forex effects bite
Frankfurt | Reuters – Bayer shares fell to their lowest levels in more than seven months after the German agricultural and pharmaceuticals group reported lower-than-expected second-quarter core earnings due to higher production costs and currency headwinds. Second-quarter earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) before special items fell 10.6 percent to 2.58 billion euros ($3.05 billion), […] Read more

Alberta’s agri-food sector can be a ‘global mega-power’
Reading Time: 2 minutes Alberta “is sitting in an ideal position” to be a major player in the international agri-food sector if it seizes the day, says a new report. But the province needs to develop a value-added industry, focus on sustainability and leverage trade deals that the country has negotiated, says the report from the University of Calgary’s […] Read more

Regina scores another business win with pulp mill project
Reading Time: < 1 minute Red Leaf Pulp says it will build “Canada’s first non-wood pulp mill” in Regina by turning wheat straw into compostable cellulose pulp for use in packaging, tissue and other paper products. Construction of the $350-million facility is slated to begin next year. Red Leaf says the fibre produced by the facility can be used as […] Read more

Bowden pulse-processing plant still a go, says new CEO
Investors are being lined up but some ‘milestones’ need to be met for fractionation facility to proceed
Reading Time: 5 minutes Despite recent setbacks, a proposed pulse-fractionating plant near Bowden is moving ahead under new management. The prospect for the facility was thrown into doubt when W.A. Grain & Pulse Solutions was placed into receivership in April. However, prior to that, the Innisfail company, which had spent five years planning the facility and trying to get it off the ground, […] Read more

The plant protein ship hasn’t sailed — but time is running out
Manitoba and Saskatchewan are part of the pulse-processing boom — but in Alberta, nothing
Reading Time: 7 minutes For nearly five years, Chris Chivilo has been ready to break ground on a new pulse-fractioning facility near Bowden. And every year, his plans have been pushed to next year. First, the bottom fell out of the pulse market. Then the capital just wasn’t there. Then the pandemic. But you only get so many ‘next […] Read more

Mead maker fermenting something new for hamlet of New Sarepta
Reading Time: 3 minutes New Sarepta was long past its heyday when Will Munsey arrived in the mid-2000s, but the hobby farmer turned mead maker is hoping to bring some new life to the sleepy hamlet. “New Sarepta was a really booming little community up until the 1950s, when better roads were built and people started getting individual automobiles […] Read more

CNH Industrial guides for revenue fall up to 20 per cent
Milan | Reuters – Vehicle and equipment maker CNH Industrial posted a narrower-than-expected second quarter loss on Thursday and forecast net sales from industrial activities would fall between 15-20 percent this year, as a consequence of the COIVD-19 epidemic. In March the group, which is controlled by Exor, the holding company of Italy’s Agnelli family, […] Read more

JBS invests $19-million in safety measures amid COVID-19 pandemic
Sao Paulo | Reuters –Brazilian food processor JBS SA has invested more than 100 million reais ($19.3 million) in health, safety and contingency measures at all its Brazilian production units, according to a Wednesday company statement that comes as the novel coronavirus continues to ravage local meat plants. The company said the funds were invested […] Read more

BASF says dividends, asset values under review as pandemic bites
Frankfurt | Reuters – Germany’s BASF said on Wednesday its dividend policy and the value of assets on its balance sheet might be revised given uncertainty caused by the coronavirus crisis, particularly in North America and Europe. The policy of the world’s largest chemicals and plastics maker by sales to increase dividends each year and […] Read more