(Websterltd.com.au)

Crown pension fund bids for Australian ag firm Webster

Reuters — Australian agribusiness company Webster Ltd. said on Thursday it has signed a deal for a A$854 million (C$763.65 million) takeover by shareholder PSP Investments, one of Canada’s biggest pension funds. The walnut, cotton and livestock producer said the A$2 per share offer — a 57.5 per cent premium to Wednesday’s ordinary shares closing […] Read more

CBOT December 2019 corn, with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn, soybean futures ease

Chicago | Reuters –– Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) corn and soybean futures closed lower on Friday, as weather forecasts showed fewer yield risks to Midwest crops ahead of harvesting, as traders jockeyed for positioning ahead of a U.S. grain stocks report slated for Monday, traders said. Meanwhile, CBOT wheat futures extended a technical bounce […] Read more


Food security is an issue in this election for 54 per cent of Canadians. (FatCamera/E+/Getty Images)

Food, farming not expected to be big election issues

Canadians don’t think that food and agriculture will be a significant issue in the current federal election. A survey conducted Sept. 9 and released Tuesday by Angus Reid Global with the support of Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab shows 31 per cent of Canadians believe food and agriculture will be a prime electoral issue during […] Read more

The USDA building in Washington, D.C. (Art Wager/iStock/Getty Images)

Global wheat production to decrease, USDA says

MarketsFarm — In the latest supply and demand report from U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the global wheat forecast was revised downward due to difficult weather conditions. USDA has now projected 765.53 million tonnes of wheat to be produced in 2019-20, according to the department’s world agriculture supply and demand estimates (WASDE), released Thursday. That’s […] Read more



CBOT December 2019 corn with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn hits contract lows on sluggish exports, mild weather

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn futures fell to life-of-contract lows on Friday, pressured by disappointing weekly U.S. export data and forecasts for benign weather in the heart of the Midwest crop belt, analysts said. Soybeans turned down, retreating from early advances, and wheat followed the lower trend. Chicago Board of Trade December corn settled […] Read more


Dominic Barton. (Video screengrab from McKinsey.com)

Industry groups hail appointment of new China envoy

Ottawa | Reuters — Canada has appointed veteran business consultant Dominic Barton as ambassador to China, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday, as the government grapples with a major diplomatic and trade dispute between the nations. Barton, 56, a Ugandan-born Canadian who stepped down as global managing partner of consulting firm McKinsey and Co. […] Read more

Louis Dreyfus’ grain elevator at Joffre, Alta., northeast of Red Deer. (LDC.com)

P+H to buy Louis Dreyfus’ Prairie elevators

Updated — Commodities and agrifood giant Louis Dreyfus Co. is stepping out of the grain handling business it built in Canada with a deal to sell its Prairie elevator network. Louis Dreyfus (LDC) announced Wednesday it has an agreement in place to sell its 10 elevators across Western Canada to Winnipeg grain company Parrish and […] Read more


File photo of wheat being loaded onto a bulk vessel at port in Russia. (YGrek/iStock/Getty Images)

Brazil expected to introduce tariff-free wheat import quota from 2020

Sao Paulo | Reuters — Brazil is expected to introduce a tariff-free wheat import quota of 750,000 tonnes per year starting from 2020, the president of the country’s wheat industry group Abitrigo, Rubens Barbosa, said on Tuesday. Brazil announced the opening of the tariff-free wheat import quota earlier this year in connection with President Jair […] Read more

To sell beef in Europe, cattle must be raised without growth promotants and the packer can’t use a carcass wash not approved in the EU. Pictured is a meat counter in Morlaix, France.

CCA sees potential for more beef sales to Europe

Reading Time: 2 minutes Canada could be selling more beef to Europe if it increased the number of veterinarians trained to approve cattle for shipment there or secured approval for using Verified Beef Production Plus (VBP+) to meet European requirements, the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association says. Since the free trade agreement with Europe came into effect nearly two years ago, […] Read more