Reading Time: 3 minutes Alberta farmers now have another service provider when it comes to selecting a cash advance. Producers in the province can now choose from 11 organizations — five offering cash advances for grains and oilseeds — when seeking a low- or no-interest loan pledged against their crops, livestock, or other agricultural products. But the Alberta Wheat […] Read more
Alberta Wheat says its cash advance program will be different
Farm group says it will streamline the process, but competitor says it’s needless duplication
Canada’s short line equipment makers on the cutting edge
These smaller manufacturers exported $1.8 billion of equipment and implements last year
Reading Time: 3 minutes If you’re frustrated that the big names in equipment manufacturing aren’t rolling out autonomous systems quickly enough, you may want to look a little closer to home. “With the clock ticking on when we’ll see autonomous farming become a commercial reality, my hope is that we’ll see Canadian manufacturers lead the way there,” said Leah […] Read more
Province ‘assessing’ its hopper car fleet
Reading Time: < 1 minute The province is “currently assessing policy options” for its fleet of hopper cars, says an analyst with Alberta Agriculture. In the early ’80s, Alberta and Saskatchewan each purchased 1,000 hopper cars to supplement the fleet of 13,300 owned by the federal government, noted Chuanliang Su. Read more: Railways say they’re ready for large shipping season […] Read more
GrainsConnect inland terminals opening in 2019
Reading Time: < 1 minute GrainsConnect Canada’s new inland terminal at Vegreville will open in spring while its one at Huxley will open in fall 2019, the company says. GrainsConnect is a joint venture of Australia’s GrainCorp and Japan’s Zen-Noh Group, one of the world’s largest co-operatives. It has already opened two inland terminals in Saskatchewan. All four have a […] Read more
Second farm organization offering cash advances
Reading Time: < 1 minute Producers have another option when seeking a cash advance. Beginning Sept. 1, the Alberta Wheat Commission will provide cash advances through FarmCash under the federal government’s Advance Payments Program. The federal loan guarantee program provides low-interest cash advances up to $400,000, with the first $100,000 interest free. FarmCash will offer advances on 45 commodities, including […] Read more
Alberta beef remains in high demand
Reading Time: < 1 minute Beef production in Alberta rose by an estimated five per cent last year to just over 732,000 tonnes, says a provincial livestock market analyst. One-sixth of that amount was consumed in Alberta, another 51 per cent was sold in Canada, and just under a quarter went to the U.S., said Jason Wood. The remainder (8.4 […] Read more
Farm groups blast grain commission for refusing to give back surplus
Federal grain agency plans to spend $90 million on more services, but farm leaders want fees reduced
Reading Time: 4 minutes Alberta’s wheat and barley commissions and the Grain Growers of Canada are unhappy that the Canadian Grain Commission won’t be giving back $90 million in surplus service fees it collected from Prairie farmers. “Over the past five to six years, the Canadian Grain Commission has built up a surplus of funds based on user fees […] Read more
CP joins CN in rejuvenating grain hopper car fleet
New-generation hopper cars are shorter, carry more grain, and are faster to load and unload
Reading Time: 2 minutes CP Rail says it will spend more than $500 million on new high-capacity grain hopper cars. The company announced last month it has ordered 1,000 new hopper cars and expects to see more than 500 of them in service by the end of the year. “These new rail cars will revitalize our fleet,” said CP […] Read more
Alberta GDP numbers rise across the board
Reading Time: < 1 minute The real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for Alberta’s agri-food industry rose by 2.5 per cent in 2017 to $6.5 billion. The province accounts for 12.5 per cent of the country’s agri-food GDP, and is in third spot nationally (after Ontario and Quebec). The GDP for the province’s primary agriculture industry increased 1.9 per cent to […] Read more
While U.S. soybean growers fret, canola keeps shining
China has stopped buying American soybeans, while canola trade is comfortably boring
Reading Time: 4 minutes A potential U.S.-China trade war has American soybean growers anxiously watching the horizon, but it looks like smooth sailing for canola markets. “Canola is a high-quality oil that processors would use more of if they could get their hands on it. This does encourage more growth and also the increase of crush capacity we’ve seen […] Read more
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