There’s no proof the fire that largely destroyed a British Columbia village, damaged a key rail bridge and led to cuts in rail speed limits in high-risk areas was sparked by train traffic, the federal Transportation Safety Board says. The TSB on Thursday said its investigation, launched in early July, “has not revealed any evidence […] Read more

No evidence trains sparked Lytton fire, TSB says
Transportation Safety Board now stepping out of ongoing fire probe

Hay-starved Prairies fertile ground for online scammers
At least $64,000 lost in Alberta alone, RCMP says
High demand, scarce supplies and rising prices for hay and other feeds due to this summer’s drought on the Prairies have made a market for online scammers, RCMP warn. The urgency driving such transactions may cause ranchers, farmers and farm workers to make purchases “without taking time to properly verify or research production sources,” Alberta […] Read more

U.S. grains: Soybeans touch last December’s lows
Soy, corn production bigger than previously expected, USDA says
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago soybean futures dropped on Tuesday to the lowest seen since December 2020, after a U.S. government report pegged soybean and corn production to be bigger than traders had previously expected. The monthly world agricultural supply and demand estimates (WASDE) report pegged the soybean crop at 4.448 billion bushels, and soybean […] Read more

Exports tumble as supplies simply not there
'There's very little to sell'
MarketsFarm — Cereal and oilseed exports out of Canada nosedived in August just as the 2021-22 marketing began, according to the monthly export report from the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC). At about 2.24 million tonnes, total grain exports were down 38.5 per cent overall compared to those in August 2020. “There’s very little to sell. […] Read more

Pulse weekly outlook: Manitoba has an OK dry bean crop
MarketsFarm — As with the great majority of field crops this year in Manitoba, dry beans have seen production fall due to excessive heat and severe drought, according to provincial pulse specialist Dennis Lange. “Dry beans usually do fairly well on drier years, but this year has been extremely dry for a lot of the […] Read more

Prairie quinoa yields likely to be down this year
MarketsFarm — Shortly before the harvest of this year’s quinoa crop in Western Canada is about to start, expectations are for yields to be down from last year, according to Liam O’Halloran of the Northern Quinoa Production Corp. (NorQuin) in Saskatoon. “As well as everything else we had some areas that had a little bit […] Read more

Canary seed prices rise as production drops
MarketsFarm — This year’s canary seed crop in Canada will be smaller than expected, according to Darren Yungmann, board chair of the Canary Seed Development Commission of Saskatchewan. “Overall, canary seed is one of the most susceptible to the drought when compared to other crops,” he said, noting it’s shallow-rooted and could not access any […] Read more

Canada’s drought forces canola importers to turn elsewhere
'Importers...are going to be left out in the cold'
Winnipeg | Reuters — Canada’s smallest canola harvest in 13 years, resulting from severe drought, is forcing importers like Japan and Mexico to pay more or scour other countries for the yellow-flowering oilseed. With the scant available Canadian canola fetching high prices, customers of the world’s biggest canola exporter are leaning more heavily on smaller-producing […] Read more

Canola exports down 72 per cent through eight weeks
MarketsFarm — Canadian canola and wheat exports continue to run well behind the year-ago pace, with movement of all crops down 34 per cent through the first eight weeks of the 2021-22 crop year. Total exports of all of the major grains, oilseeds and pulses as of Sunday, at 4.714 million tonnes, are down by […] Read more

Schoepp: A solid foundation is key to resilience and can’t be neglected
This summer spoke volumes about the need for rotational grazing and regenerative practices
Reading Time: 3 minutes General Motors declared bankruptcy in June of 2009 after steadily losing money since 2005. GM’s plight has become a case study and is often used in education programs for directors on boards, but it also holds a lesson for farmers. During the time of its decline, GM was scrambling to produce a vehicle for everyone […] Read more