CBOT November 2022 soybeans (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (yellow, dark green and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Soy, corn firm on weather worries

CBOT wheat drops; grain traders also positioning ahead of Tuesday's USDA report

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn and soybean futures climbed on Monday on forecasts for hot, dry conditions across the Midwest farm belt as well as technical buying and positioning ahead of Tuesday’s monthly U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) supply-and-demand reports. The market eased from overnight highs, however, as updated weather models appeared slightly less […] Read more


La Niña wants to stick around

La Niña wants to stick around

Reading Time: < 1 minute There’s “a high probability” that La Niña will last until August and possibly until the start of next winter (or later), says the World Meteorological Organization. If so, it would be the third “triple-dip La Niña” — three consecutive winters of La Niña conditions in the Northern Hemisphere — since 1950, the agency said. The […] Read more

Photo: Getty Images

Heavy rain — where does all that water come from?

When a thunderstorm rolls in on a warm summer day, there’s an awful lot of water over your head

Reading Time: 3 minutes In the last issue we went into some detail on how thunderstorms develop, and how they can go from your average summer day thunderstorm to a severe thunderstorm. Thunderstorms can bring a wide variety of severe weather with them: heavy rains, hail, high winds, lightning, and, on some occasions, tornadoes. After an extended period of […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

StatCan raises Canada’s canola plantings from earlier estimate

Farmers seen returning to 'steady Eddie' wheat

MarketsFarm –– Canadian canola plantings are projected to come in above earlier expectations but would still be well below what was seeded to the crop in 2021, according to updated acreage estimates from Statistics Canada released Tuesday. Meanwhile, wheat area in the country is forecast at its highest level in nearly a decade. After a […] Read more

Flea beetles in canola seedlings. (Canola Council of Canada video screengrab via YouTube)

Flea beetles an issue in parts of Saskatchewan

MarketsFarm — Delays to spring seeding in some regions of Saskatchewan, such as the northeast, have opened the door for infestations of flea beetles, according to provincial pest management specialist James Tansey. Canola crops that were planted later than normal are suffering from flea beetles, he said. Extremely late-seeded canola has been relatively free from […] Read more



Photo: File

Manitoba Crop Report: Plantings advance, crops threatened by weeds, insects

MarketsFarm – Seeding continues to advance in Manitoba, but recent rains have also hindered progress and emergent crops are being threatened by weeds and insects. Plantings in the province are 91 per cent complete as of June 21, four points higher than the previous week according to Manitoba’s weekly crop report. Typically, the third week […] Read more


(Lightguard/iStock/Getty Images)

Saskatchewan shores up disaster program for bigger farms

Program extends PDAP aid to higher-revenue farm businesses

Saskatchewan farmers whose operations took damage from storms in April, but whose gross revenues overtopped the maximum for disaster assistance, will now be able to get in on that program. The province on June 16 announced “supplemental relief” via the Provincial Disaster Assistance Program to help farmers who didn’t qualify under PDAP’s usual eligibility rules. […] Read more

File photo of a pea crop south of Ethelton, Sask. on Aug. 1, 2019. (Dave Bedard photo)

Pulse weekly outlook: Peas, lentils faring well but threats remain

MarketsFarm — Growing conditions for peas and lentils in Saskatchewan during the spring can be described as variable. While western parts of the province continued to endure dry conditions carried over from last year’s drought, regions in the east were drenched with near-continuous rainfall to go along with below-normal temperatures. Lionel Ector, president of Diefenbaker […] Read more