MarketsFarm — As the snow melts on the Prairies, pulse growers are making their final preparations before seeding, while at the same time hoping not to see a repeat of last year’s historic drought. In Saskatchewan, snow cover has varied in pulse-growing areas, making some growers nervous. “There’s still a lot of concern about dryness […] Read more

Pulse weekly outlook: Saskatchewan growers wait for rain

U.S. grains: Ukrainian export woes support markets
U.S. winter wheat 30 per cent good-excellent
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat, soybean and corn climbed on Monday, underpinned by disrupted supplies of Black Sea grains as the conflict in Ukraine continues, while attention shifts to U.S. production. Chicago Board of Trade most-active wheat ended 25-3/4 cents higher at $10.10-1/4 a bushel (all figures US$). Soybeans added 19-1/2 cents to $16.02-1/4 […] Read more

Farming behind the lines: Hostages of globalization
Imagine — even if it looks unrealistic — that one day Canada will be cut off from the rest of the world. And all import deliveries to the country will be possible, for example, only through Alaska, only by trains along one route. It sounds absurd, but Ukraine, in the very heart of Europe, is […] Read more

U.S. grains: Soybeans hit one-month low on record acreage view
Chicago corn futures, MGEX wheat up
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures fell to their lowest in a month on Thursday after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) projected farmers would plant the most acres on record to the oilseed this spring while reducing corn acres. Corn futures rose on the acreage outlook, with the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) […] Read more

Pulse weekly outlook: Market uncertainty all around
MarketsFarm — As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continue to swing markets up and down, typical issues and other external factors have amplified volatility in the pulse markets, according to one trader. David Newman, owner of Commodius Trading at North Saanich, B.C., explained that while the conflict in Eastern Europe is affecting markets everywhere, the usual […] Read more

Ukraine sunseed area seen falling due to war
Lviv | Reuters — The area sown to sunflower in Ukraine is likely to fall to 4.81 million hectares (11.89 million acres) in 2022 from 6.66 million hectares in 2021 due to hostilities in many regions, the agriculture ministry said on Friday. Ukraine is the world’s largest sunflower seed grower and sunflower oil exporter. The […] Read more

Farming behind the lines in Ukraine
A Ukrainian agriculture journalist chronicles the challenges of sowing a crop during wartime
Ukrainians will farm their land, even in the face of war. In the Kherson area of southern Ukraine, where war rages and the city of Kherson is seen by the Russian invaders as strategic, a column set out on Monday. This was a column of tractors, under the flag of Ukraine. In it were farmers […] Read more

U.S. grains: May wheats limit-down as peace talks progress
Chicago corn, soybeans also lower
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures fell by their daily maximum on Wednesday as investors weighed whether talks between Ukraine and Russia could lead to a ceasefire in the three-week-long war, while rain forecast in the U.S. Plains eased concerns about parched crops. Corn ended lower as the talks between Moscow and Kyiv tempered […] Read more

Ukraine to start spring seeding in coming days, officials say
Lviv | Reuters — Ukraine plans to start sowing spring grains in the coming days and has enough grain in stocks to ensure the population has enough bread, deputy agriculture minister Taras Vysotskiy said Saturday. He said the country, which consumes eight million tonnes of wheat a year, had six million tonnes in stocks. Stocks […] Read more

Bread and war: Farmers in the fight for Ukraine
Agriculture, being the most important industry in Ukraine, will play a large part in the war, a Ukrainian ag journalist writes
It is very difficult to explain what a person feels when they’re awakened at 5 a.m., when a rocket explodes near their house. That’s exactly what I experienced Feb. 24. The first thing I did was fill my car with gasoline. Then we bought a lot of products we thought we might need — medicines […] Read more