MarketsFarm — Canola futures finished up at Monday’s close, boosted by a weather premium after a low-pressure system brought considerable snowfall to parts of Alberta over the weekend. Snow was mostly concentrated in the southern region of the province. Calgary and surrounding areas received around 30 centimetres of snow, according to preliminary results from Environment […] Read more
Alberta snow further delays canola harvest, boosts prices
U.S. grains: Corn, soybean futures ease
Chicago | Reuters –– Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) corn and soybean futures closed lower on Friday, as weather forecasts showed fewer yield risks to Midwest crops ahead of harvesting, as traders jockeyed for positioning ahead of a U.S. grain stocks report slated for Monday, traders said. Meanwhile, CBOT wheat futures extended a technical bounce […] Read more
Snow to stall harvests for western Prairies, Montana
Chicago | Reuters — A weekend storm is poised to bring more than a foot (30.5 cm) of snow to parts of Montana and the Canadian Prairies, putting portions of the region’s spring wheat and canola crops at risk, a meteorologist said. Excessively wet conditions in the region this month have already slowed fieldwork and […] Read more
Heavy North Dakota snows threaten wheat seeding
Chicago | Reuters — A blanket of heavy, wet snow covering most of North Dakota, the top U.S. wheat state, threatens to delay planting of spring wheat in another blow to a U.S. farm belt already facing billions of dollars in damage from flooding. Farmers from Missouri to South Dakota have seen their corn and […] Read more
U.S. farm belt slammed by floods, heavy snow from bomb cyclone
Reuters — A harsh late-winter storm broadsided a vast swath of the U.S. agriculture industry this week as heavy snow closed roads and buried cattle in the Plains while excessive rain flooded Midwest fields and swamped grain elevators. A “bomb cyclone” hurled hurricane-force winds, sparked tornadoes and dumped heavy snow and rain across the Plains […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Cattle futures jump on snowstorm
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. cattle futures approached a one-year high on Tuesday on concerns that wintry weather in the middle of the country will temporarily tighten supplies. Snow in states such as Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa this week is expected to slow the transportation of cattle to processing plants run by companies such as […] Read more
Southern Alberta suffering from lack of precipitation this winter
While much of the province has seen average snowfall, the south has been below or well-below average
Reading Time: < 1 minute It’s a mixed bag when it comes to the soil moisture situation in the province. Most of the area north of Calgary has “experienced at least near-normal precipitation accumulations,” said Ralph Wright, manager of the agro-meteorological applications and modelling section with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. “In contrast, throughout much of southern Alberta, accumulations have been […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Live cattle hit contract highs on storm forecast
Chicago | Reuters — Live cattle futures rose to life-of-contract highs at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday, lifted by worries that severe winter weather could prompt beef packers to pay higher prices for animals in the U.S. Plains, traders said. Technical buying and short-covering also buoyed cattle prices while lean hog futures finished narrowly […] Read more
Alberta farmers try to wrap up ‘very unusual year’
CNS Canada — As winter approaches, producers in Alberta are still in the fields trying to wrap up the last bit of the 2018 harvest. According to the final crop report issued by Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, about six per cent of all crops were still in the field at the end of October. The […] Read more
In a year of extremes, soil moisture rebound a bright spot
The rain, snow, and cold in early fall had one upside — it recharged soil moisture reserves in much of the province
Reading Time: 4 minutes This year’s harvest was tough, but there is one good thing about it: Soil moisture and subsoil moisture are at almost normal levels in most of the province. “The soil moisture is looking better than it was at the end of August,” said Harry Brook, a crop specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. “It’s closer […] Read more
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