Skiff, Alberta / Reuters — Durum, the wheat used to make pasta, has fared better against dry conditions than other major crops in a pocket of southeastern Alberta, crop tour scouts noted on Wednesday. Durum is typically planted in drier soils than spring wheat, but fields still looked surprisingly decent, given some of the driest […] Read more
Durum faring better in SE Alta: CWB tour
CWB pegs canola production at 12.18 mln tonnes
Commodity news Service Canada — CWB is estimating the Canadian canola crop will produce 12.18 million tonnes in 2015/16 (Aug/Jul), according to a supply and demand table released via the Market Research Services Twitter account on Wednesday. The projection is below a previous estimate from the company of 12.60 to 13.00 million tonnes, which was […] Read more
Spring wheat yields puny in dry Alberta: CWB tour
Lethbridge/Reuters — Spring wheat yields measured less than half of last year’s results in drought-stricken southeastern Alberta, but were on track to set a record high in southern Manitoba, during a Canadian crop tour that saw the results of wildly contrasting weather. The tour organized by CWB Market Research Services is travelling on three routes […] Read more

Farmers play last card in planned CWB class action
One claim remaining from an unsuccessful bid at a class action suit by four Prairie farmers, over payouts to producers from the former Canadian Wheat Board, will be the farmers’ basis for a new filing. The four farmers, whose previous proposed class action was dismissed with costs in April by the Supreme Court of Canada, […] Read more

Think a big new West Coast terminal is good news? Think again
Expanding storage capacity just helps the big grain companies depress the price paid to farmers
Reading Time: 2 minutes G3 has announced it may build a new grain terminal at the West Lynn terminal on the North Shore of Vancouver’s Burrard Inlet. G3 is the joint venture of U.S.-based multinational grain company, Bunge Ltd., and the Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Co., owned by the Saudi government. It was given the assets of the […] Read more

The damage to crops is done — but how much worse will it get?
It’s not a writeoff yet, but recovery potential is limited and a late harvest seems inevitable, says crop expert
Reading Time: 3 minutes After one of the “driest Mays on record,” producers across the Prairies are wondering how their crops are going to fare this growing season. It’s not looking good. “The crops are going to be substantially smaller than they have been over the past few years,” Bruce Burnett, CWB crop and weather specialist, said in an […] Read more

Late start expected for Manitoba’s Port of Churchill
CNS Canada — Manitoba’s northern Port of Churchill will start its shipping season later this year, as its operator hopes to lower the cost of maintenance on the railway serving the port. Merv Tweed, president of port and railway operator OmniTrax Canada, said the company expects the first grain vessel will go out sometime in […] Read more

CWB’s chosen suitor weighs West Coast terminal idea
The new Prairie grain player tapped to take a majority stake in the former Canadian Wheat Board is now considering the possibility of its own port terminal. Bunge Canada and Saudi-owned crown corporation SALIC Canada, in their joint venture G3 Global Holdings, have agreed to a separate joint venture with West Coast port logistics firm […] Read more

No emergency debate on CWB sale
Members of Parliament won’t be having a debate on the sale of the former Canadian Wheat Board anytime soon. Andrew Scheer, speaker of the House of Commons, on Monday rejected the request from Pat Martin, the New Democrats’ MP for Winnipeg Centre, for an emergency debate on CWB’s planned sale of a 50.1 per cent […] Read more

Opposition seeks Commons debate on CWB sale
The federal opposition New Democrats are asking for an emergency debate in the House of Commons on the pending sale of majority control in CWB, the former Canadian Wheat Board. Winnipeg Centre MP Pat Martin, the party’s critic for public works and government services, announced Friday he has written to Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer requesting […] Read more