Moscow / Reuters — Russia stiffened its bid to curb grain exports on Monday with plans for a duty on shipments, to defend domestic bread supply against a crumbling rouble. Russia, one of the world’s top wheat exporters to North Africa and the Middle East, has been exporting record volumes of grain this year as […] Read more
Russia’s new grain export duty sows confusion
Ottawa extends grain order
Minimum amounts will vary throughout the winter
Reading Time: < 1 minute Ottawa’s new order-in-council extends the mandatory minimum weekly grain handle until March 28. But instead of a flat 536,250 tonnes of grain per week for both CN and CP Rail, the amounts vary. Until, Dec. 20, each railway must move 345,000 tonnes per week. That drops to 200,000 tonnes weekly from Dec. 21 to Jan. 3, rises […] Read more
Russia says oil-for-goods deal with Iran could be sealed soon
Moscow | Reuters — Russia hopes a deal to supply grain and equipment to Iran in return for oil can be reached soon, Russia’s Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said Sunday. The deal “will affect not only grain, there are broad lists of goods… We expect that (a deal) could be reached in the near future,” […] Read more
Russia may consider floating tariff on grain exports as last resort
Moscow | Reuters — Russia, a key wheat exporter to North Africa and the Middle East, may consider imposing a floating tariff on grain exports as a measure of last resort to defend the domestic market in 2015, its deputy agriculture minister said Thursday. Russia shocked grain markets in 2010 when it banned grain exports […] Read more
Canadian Foodgrains Bank and Alberta farmers help fight hunger
Despite having their own harvest to finish, farmers drop everything to get the crop off at Canadian Foodgrains Bank’s growing projects
Reading Time: 3 minutes Cor Abma isn’t the type of guy to get emotional over nothing. But he makes an exception when it comes to the generosity of his fellow farmers who volunteer each year for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. “It just brings tears to your eyes when all these people show up,” said the Leduc-area grain farmer. “This […] Read more
Russia’s winter grains still at risk despite warm weather – analyst
* Warm November to help Russia’s winter grains – SovEcon * Says some farmers hold crops due to the falling rouble * SovEcon sees Nov. grain exports at 3.0-3.2 mln T Paris/Moscow / Reuters – Warm weather last week did not eliminate risks for Russia’s fragile winter grain plantings, said a Moscow-based agriculture consultancy SovEcon, warning […] Read more
Alberta grain elevators close to capacity, harvest yet complete
As Alberta elevators near 85 per cent of working capacity, concerns remain for a harvest not yet over
Reading Time: 3 minutes As harvest starts to wrap up in some areas of the province, producers can expect their grain to move a little quicker than it did following last year’s record harvest. But they’re not out of the woods yet. “Alberta’s starting to fill up again,” Mark Hemmes, president of Quorum Corporation, said in an Oct. 2 […] Read more
Watch closely for damp grain in storage bins
Wet grain has to be dealt with quickly, hot grain cooled down
Reading Time: < 1 minute Wet weather has not only slowed down harvesting and reduced quality, but increased the potential for storage problems, says provincial crop specialist Harry Brook. “There might be a temptation to harvest damp or wet grain just to get it in the bin,” said Brook. “But the issue of wet grain has to be dealt with […] Read more
The ‘new’ wore off of ‘normal’ pretty quickly
The grain industry may have gotten a little too optimistic after last year’s whopper of a crop
Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s easy to get a little giddy when things go much better than expected. For example, take last year’s bin buster of a crop. By any measure, it was an astounding production feat. Western Canadian farmers shattered all previous records on most major crops, growing a whopping 76 million tonnes, 50 per cent higher than […] Read more
On-farm research done right can save producers big bucks
It takes time and effort, but doing research on your farm means you’re ‘not just flying blind’ when buying costly inputs
Reading Time: 3 minutes There really wasn’t much scientific about Kevin Auch’s first foray into on-farm research almost 30 years ago. “It was basically a visual display of micros being applied by hand in a severely eroded area — there was no measured-out pounds per acre or anything like that,” said the Carmangay-area mixed grain farmer. “All it would […] Read more
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