Pasta manufacturing in Italy

High pasta prices set to boil over as Canada’s wheat withers

Drought in Prairie durum-growing region is adding to existing global supply woes

Reading Time: 3 minutes Pasta lovers must brace to pay higher prices for their favourite dish, as drought in Canada and bad weather in Europe damages durum wheat crops and reduces supplies available to flour millers and food companies. Italy’s government called a crisis meeting in May as prices for the staple food jumped by more than double the […] Read more


Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan (r) and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin arrive at a press conference after their meeting in Sochi on Sept. 4, 2023. (Photo: Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Turkish Presidential Press Office/Handout via Reuters)

Turkey’s Erdogan says Black Sea grain deal can be restored soon

UN seeks to bring Russia back into deal

Moscow | Reuters — Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said after talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Monday that it would soon be possible to revive the grain deal that the United Nations says helped to ease a food crisis by getting Ukrainian grain to market. Russia quit the deal in July — a year after […] Read more

Liberia-flagged bulker K Sukret, carrying grain under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, waits for inspection in the southern anchorage of Istanbul on May 17, 2023. (Photo: Reuters/Mehmet Emin Caliskan)

Putin to meet Erdogan amid push to revive grain deal

Turkey, UN seek to revive grain deal; Russia discussing separate plan

Moscow | Reuters — Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan on Monday in the Black Sea resort of Sochi as Ankara and the United Nations seek to revive a Ukraine grain export deal that helped ease a global food crisis. Russia quit the deal in July — a year after […] Read more


Vessels are seen as they await inspection under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, brokered by the UN and Turkey, in the southern anchorage of the Bosphorus at Istanbul on Dec. 11, 2022. (File photo: Reuters/Yoruk Isik)

Russia says will have talks with Turkey about alternative to Black Sea deal

Plan calls for Qatar's support to move Russian grain

Reuters — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan will discuss a proposal by Moscow for an alternative to the Black Sea grain deal when they meet this week, Lavrov’s ministry said Wednesday. Under the plan, Russia would send a million tons of grain to Turkey at a discounted price, with financial […] Read more

A Belize-flagged bulker, carrying grain under UN’s Black Sea Grain Initiative, transits the Bosphorus at Istanbul on May 12, 2023. (File photo: Reuters/Yoruk Isik)

UN scrambles to save Black Sea deal ahead of Monday deadline

Russia says has not yet taken final decision

United Nations | Reuters — The European Commission is helping the United Nations and Turkey try to extend a deal allowing the Black Sea export of Ukraine grain and is open to “explore all solutions,” a European Union spokesperson said on Thursday, ahead of the deal’s possible expiration on Monday. The U.N. and Turkey brokered […] Read more


File photo of a chickpea crop in India. (Nikhil Patil/iStock/Getty Images)

Firm Canadian chickpea market watching world production

Trade keeps eye on crops in Turkey, Russia, India

MarketsFarm — Canadian farmers are in the early stages of planting the country’s next chickpea crop, with market conditions firm for the time being, ahead of new-crop harvests in other countries. “The market is firm, it’s not going up or down,” said Jake Hansen of Mid-West Grain at Moose Jaw, Sask., noting there was not […] Read more

(Stephen Ausmus photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

New report shows poultry sector burdened by expectations

Simpson Centre paper calls for increased research, financial sustainability for sector

Updated, May 17 — The Simpson Centre for Food and Agricultural Policy has released a report detailing its findings on challenges now facing Canada’s poultry sector. The report, co-authored by research assistant Shawn Wiskar and centre director Guillaume Lhermie and released Thursday, used a focus group of six stakeholders in the Canadian poultry industry. It […] Read more


A vessel is seen arriving at Odesa in southern Ukraine under the Black Sea Grain Initiative on April 12, 2023. (Photo: Yulii Zozulia/Nurphoto via Reuters Connect)

Black Sea grain deal could be extended two months, Turkish minister says

Inspections of outbound vessels have resumed

Istanbul | Reuters — Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Wednesday he thought the Ukraine Black Sea grain deal could be extended for at least two more months, as officials from the parties involved held the first day of talks on an extension in Istanbul. Russia has said it would not extend the pact beyond […] Read more