MarketsFarm — A return to trend-line yields after the past year’s drought should lead to a significant increase in Canadian crop production in 2022, according to the first supply/demand estimates for the 2022-23 season from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), released late Friday. Seeded area is expected to be up for wheat and the pulses, […] Read more

Larger Canadian crops predicted in AAFC’s first 2022 outlook

Premium discount for crop insurance being axed following record payout
After paying out $1.5 billion for crop losses last year, insurer says 20 per cent reduction won’t continue
Reading Time: 4 minutes Alberta’s crop insurer will pay out a record amount in claims — and that means the 20 per cent premium discount is being scrapped. Eleven months ago, Agriculture Financial Services Corporation announced it was not only cutting premiums by one-fifth, but would keep the discount for five years barring a “significant wreck.” But that’s exactly […] Read more

Drought assistance deadline is Jan. 31
Reading Time: < 1 minute Phase 2 of the emergency drought relief program for livestock producers is now taking applications — but only until Jan. 31. Producers hit by drought were eligible for a payment of $94 per breeding cow in the first round. In the second phase, they can get an additional payment for extraordinary feed costs (to a […] Read more

Seed quality appears to be better than expected despite heat, drought
Germination rates from fall tests by 20/20 Seed Labs were well above the 90 per cent rate
Reading Time: 2 minutes A “seed quality disaster” has been averted but supply is another story. “For most of the seeds that we tested this season, we expected to see some level of dormancy, but we haven’t seen much of that,” Moses Palmer of 20/20 Seed Labs wrote in an article on Alberta Seed Guide’s website last month. “Mostly, […] Read more

Last year was world’s sixth-warmest on record, U.S. scientists say
Heat content of oceans at record level, NOAA says
Reuters — Last year ranked as the sixth-warmest year on record, causing extreme weather events around the world and adding to evidence supporting the globe’s long-term warming, according to an analysis on Thursday by two U.S. government agencies. The data compiled by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA also revealed that […] Read more

La Niña likely to continue into spring, U.S. forecaster says
Reuters — La Nina conditions are likely to continue during the Northern Hemisphere spring, a U.S. government weather forecaster said on Thursday. The La Niña weather pattern, characterized by unusually cold temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, has a 67 per cent chance of persisting from March through May this year, the National Weather Service’s […] Read more

Feed weekly outlook: Alberta bids see slight gains
MarketsFarm — Alberta feedlots are only buying feed barley and wheat on a hand-to-mouth basis as demand remains unchanged, according to a local trader. “A lot of the feedlots we work with are buying what they needed and getting covered,” said Agfinity Inc. senior trader Erin Harakal from Stony Plain, Alta. High-delivered bids are $12.93 […] Read more

ICE weekly outlook: Despite declines, signs point to increases for canola
MarketsFarm — Although old-crop canola was falling back midway through the week of Jan. 10, analyst David Derwin of PI Financial in Winnipeg said the oilseed should “grind higher” in weeks to come. “The fundamentals haven’t changed at all — they’re not going to get more canola out of the ground until the fall,” he […] Read more

Pulse weekly outlook: Chickpea prices reverse direction
Markets correcting lower, buyer says
MarketsFarm — The chickpea market in Western Canada is undergoing a correction, according to the manager of a pulse buying and processing company in Saskatchewan. With the exception of Desi chickpeas, all varieties of the pulse have seen prices go down two to five cents per pound over the past month, according to Prairie Ag […] Read more

Highs may be in on flax as attention turns to new crop
MarketsFarm — The highs may be in for flaxseed bids in Western Canada, with end-users covered for the time being as attention turns to the 2022 crop. “(Canadian flax) is expensive relative to other markets,” said analyst Marlene Boersch of Mercantile Consulting, speaking via Zoom in Winnipeg on Tuesday to the annual Crop Production Week […] Read more