“The FX4 SP and FX4 18S are built for grain operations that require reliable, high-throughput conveyors that range from 8,000 to 10,500 (bushels per hour),” AGI’s senior vice-president for North American farm and global portables, Paul Brisebois, said in a press release.

The self-propelled mover kit available for the FX4 SP with all-terrain tires makes moving the conveyor around for those less-than-perfectly-located grain bins a little easier. The conveyor comes with a 37-horsepower Vanguard gas engine that moves grain through a 10-inch tube using a 15-inch belt.

Those features give this model an 8,000-bushel per hour capacity.

An under-hopper skid plate improves belt protection and allows for easier cleanup at the end of a job. It also offers a low-profile collapsible hopper and handler to allow for more clearance under trucks and hoppers.

The FX4 SP is available in 39-, 44- and 49-foot lengths. It’s available under the AGI Batco, AGI GrainMaxx, AGI Hutchinson and AGI Westfield brand names.

The FX4 18S electric top drive conveyor uses a larger 12.75-inch tube and an 18-inch belt, giving it a 10,500-bushel per hour capacity. It’s available in 39- and 44-foot lengths.

A new steel hopper option is available as well as what the company calls a “no-nonsense” discharge hood to better direct grain flow straight down. For durability and better performance, the belt runs on a new, larger drive roller.

“The FX4 18S is all about capacity and control,” AGI director of global product management Kent Woods said. “We’ve upgraded the belt, rollers and hopper to give farmers a conveyor that performs under pressure and simplifies setup.”

This model will also appear on dealers’ lots under the same four brand names as the FX4 SP.

“This series launch reflects AGI’s commitment to building smarter, more efficient grain handling solutions for farm operations of all sizes,” Brisebois said.

The post Two new conveyors from AGI appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The company reported 23,088 carloads during the month, which was also a new February record. The company moved 2.395 million tonnes of grain in January 2026 with 24,688 carloads — both monthly records for January.

“This is the second straight monthly Canadian grain record and it continues a strong start to 2026 as our railroaders work safely and efficiently with our supply chain collaborators to move a record grain crop across Western Canada,” said Elizabeth Hucker, CPKC vice-president of sales and marketing bulk, in the news release.

CPKC transported more than 17.1 MMT of Canadian grain and grain products through the first 30 weeks of the 2025/26 marketing year, hitting the largest totals since the record setting 2020/21 crop year.

The volume of Canadian grain and grain products moving on CPKC tracks have exceeded the average supply chain capacity targets outlined in the company’s annual grain service plan in multiple weeks in 2025/26.

CPKC said it was “critical that all supply chain participants, including customer loading facilities and terminal operators loading grain into vessels at ports, operate at full capacity to sustain this strong momentum.”

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StatCan published its major grain deliveries report for August 2025 on Sept. 25. In total, 3.588 million tonnes were delivered compared to 4.329 million in August 2024. The agency noted that tariffs placed on Canadian goods headed to the United States may have an impact on deliveries.

All wheat deliveries in August totaled 2.259 million tonnes compared to 2.321 million one year earlier. For durum, 279,584 tonnes were delivered last month, up from 244,560 tonnes in August 2024.

Canola deliveries fell below one million tonnes for the first time since August 2023, dropping to their lowest monthly total since May 2022. StatCan reported 621,555 tonnes of the oilseed were delivered in August, compared to 1.32 million tonnes in August of last year.

August barley deliveries were 379,238 tonnes, slightly more than the 375,071 tonnes delivered in August 2024. For oats, 278,097 tonnes were delivered, up from 267,271 tonnes one year earlier. Rye deliveries were up from 29,375 tonnes in August 2024 to 38,098 last month. Flaxseed deliveries were down from 15,127 tonnes in August 2024 to 11,953 tonnes a year later.

Saskatchewan provided 36.6 per cent of all deliveries, followed by Manitoba with 22.2 per cent and Alberta at 20.4 per cent.

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Total wheat deliveries of more than 3.24 million tonnes improved 34.3 per cent, while durum jumped more than 141 per cent at almost 542,000 tonnes.

Oats were also significantly higher, rising 66.3 per cent at almost 301,150 tonnes.

Canola was the second largest delivery, with 1.92 million tonnes of the oilseed delivered to commercial positions in April, up 31.9 per cent from a year ago.

At just short of 355,600 tonnes, barley incurred the only decline, down 7.2 per cent from last April.

(Source: Producer deliveries of major grains, Statistics Canada)

Grain          Apr2024     Apr2025     Up/Down

All Grains    4,468,523   5,857,662    +31.09%

Total Wheat   2,414,614   3,243,354    +34.32%

Durum Only      224,814     541,977   +141.08%

Oats            181,099     301,149    +66.29%

Barley          383,188     355,580     -7.20%

Rye              17,254      13,744    -20.34%

Flax             20,020      29,332    +45.60%

Canola        1,870,670   1,462,404    -21.82%

The post Grain deliveries up on year in April: StatCan appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“Bartlett’s acquisition of Ceres is vindication of the strategy we set out to achieve 12 years ago, which is to build the company into one of North America’s leading merchandisers of durum, oats, spring wheat and canola,” said Ceres board chair Jim Vanasek in a news release.

Why it matters: Ceres has operations in Manitoba and Saskatchewan

Ceres is a Minnesota-based grain buyer and logistics company with locations in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. It also owns Delmar Commodities, based in Winkler, Man., and Jordan Mills in Roland, Man.

Bartlett is headquartered in Kansas City with locations in the American Midwest and East Coast, and Mexico. It is part of the Savage group of companies.

“We see incredible potential in combining our networks,” said Savage president and CEO Jeff Roberts.

Ceres’ network and assets are a “natural complement to the Bartlett business,” said Bartlett executive director Bob Knief in a separate news release.

Its assets include a combined grain and oilseed storage of about 45 million bushels.

“We see incredible potential in combining our networks

Bartlett has agreed to purchase Ceres at US$4.50 per share, which would value the sale at roughly US$140 million. The transaction is subject to court approval and closing conditions.

The post Bartlett to buy Ceres Global Ag Corp appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Total deliveries tallied more than 4.67 million tonnes last month, compared to 3.70 million a year ago. Of that, the largest deliveries were for total wheat at about 2.69 million tonnes versus 2.21 million the previous December.

That broke down to about 2.14 million tonnes of wheat excluding durum and 547,422 tonnes of durum. A year ago, those came in at 1.95 million and 253,927 tonnes.

December canola deliveries exceeded 1.51 million tonnes last month compared to 1.08 million a year ago.

There were also increases for oats and barley, at 196,344 and 248,876 tonnes, respectively.

Rye and flax deliveries stepped back in December, with 8,110 tonnes of rye and 11,942 of flax. The same time last year they amounted to 8,710 and 15,142 tonnes, respectively.

Source: Statistics Canada (tonnes)

Grain            Dec23          Dec24          Change

All Grains     3,704,230      4,668,801        +26.0%

Total Wheat    2,205,036      2,688,920        +21.9%

Wheat Only     1,951,108      2,141,499         +9.8%

Durum            253,927        547,422       +115.6%

Oats             175,671        196,344        +11.8%

Barley           219,775        248,876        +13.2%

Rye                8,710          8,110         -7.4%

Flax              15,142         11,942        -26.8%

Canola         1,079,895      1,514,609        +40.3%

The post Upswings in most December grain deliveries appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Darwin Sobkow was announced Jan. 6 as the company’s new chief executive officer, effective Jan. 10 with the formal retirement of Curt Vossen, the company’s CEO since 1995.

Sobkow served as chief operations officer since 2020 for the Winnipeg-based, privately-held firm, an arm of family-owned James Richardson & Sons.

The company’s ag industry holdings include a network of 55 Prairie grain elevators; port terminals in B.C., Ontario and Quebec; canola crush plants at Lethbridge and Yorkton; oat milling facilities in the three Prairie provinces and one each in the U.S. and U.K.; several further-processing plants; and 93 Prairie ag retail outlets supplying seed and crop inputs to farmers in the region.

During a nearly 30-year stint as CEO, Vossen oversaw much of that expansion, including the acquisition of more grain elevators, mainly during other Prairie grain handlers’ mergers and divestitures—as well as acquisitions such as U.S. durum miller Italgrani USA and the U.S.-based Wesson cooking oil brand.

“Under his leadership and bold vision, Richardson International evolved into a world-class organization with expertise across its vertically integrated agribusiness and food processing operations,” the company said in its Jan. 6 announcement.

Richardson noted Sobkow, who started with Richardson in 1999 as executive vice-president for agribusiness operations and processing, was “instrumental” in those acquisitions and integrations.

His “operational expertise and deep industry knowledge will guide Richardson International into its next phase of growth,” the company said.

The post New Richardson CEO steps in appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Nearly 800,000 tonnes of grain moved through the port on the northern shores of Lake Superior in November, bringing the year-to-date total to 6.818 million tonnes, according to a report. That compares with 6.027 million tonnes at the same point a year ago and comes in about 500,000 tonnes above the five-year average for grain movement.

Potash shipments were running at their strongest level in 40 years, with 259,385 tonnes shipped in November. That brought the year-to-date total to 1.676 million tonnes up 11 per cent from 2023.

A total of 432 vessels have visited the port this year, which compares with 388 a year ago. There were 169 foreign ocean going ‘salties’ through November, up from 151 at the same time last year.

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The commission said Aug. 28 both dealer and primary elevator licences at the company’s Saskatchewan facilities in Avonlea, Kindersley and Lajord had been pulled and farmers in all three prairie provinces could be owed money.

Farmers should contact the CGC if they are owed money.

The commission’s Safeguards for Grain Farmers Program uses the company’s security to pay eligible claims. Eligibility periods include 90 days from each grain delivery or 30 days from the date of a cash purchase ticket or cheque issuance. The lesser of the two periods applies.

More to come.

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“We acknowledge that reality television aims to entertain, but it is crucial that such portrayals do not inadvertently glamorize or normalize serious risks,” said Andrea Lear, CASA’s Chief Executive Officer in a news release yesterday. “We urge media producers to consult with safety experts and consider the real-life consequences of their depicted tasks.”

In fifth episode of the show’s current season, contestants are made to climb into grain trailers that are anywhere from two-thirds to three-quarters of the way full of oats. They then had to dig through the grain to find a hidden object.

Contestants were shown wading and digging through the grain for a prolonged period.

“It’s pretty deep,” a contestant said at one point.

CASA pointed out that wading in deep grain could lead to become partially or fully engulfed in grain, which can have deadly consequences. Between 2011 and 2020, 27 people died due to asphyxiation in grain or soil, the organization said.

In 2015, three children died while playing on a truck loaded with canola. According to a CBC article from the time, the girls fell into the back of the truck and suffocated after they became buried in the canola.

Since 2017, CASA has been working to raise awareness of the dangers of grain entrapment and has trained firefighters on how to rescue people trapped in grain.

In its first season, The Amazing Race Canada had contestants perform a similar task in which they searched through trailers full of lentils.

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