(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Klassen: Feeder market establishes short-term stability

Compared to last week, western Canadian feeder cattle traded $2-$4 on either side of unchanged. Steady demand was noted on 800-plus-pound cattle, but calves and lighter weights experienced softer buying interest. Favourable weather and optimal pen conditions along with firmer live cattle futures supported the yearling market. Imports of U.S. corn continue to run 10-14 […] Read more

CBOT March 2022 wheat (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (yellow, orange and dark green lines). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Wheat slides on U.S. weather, reduced fears over Ukraine

Corn down, soybeans up

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures fell more than three per cent on Monday to their lowest in nearly two weeks on forecasts of welcome moisture in the U.S. Plains wheat belt and waning fears of imminent conflict between Russia and Ukraine, traders said. Corn futures followed wheat down, turning lower in a retreat […] Read more


Crews work as Canadian Pacific Railway tracks are suspended above the washed-out Tank Hill underpass of the Trans-Canada Highway after devastating rain storms caused flooding and landslides, northeast of Lytton, B.C. on Nov. 20, 2021. (Photo: B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure handout via Reuters)

Year-end profits up for CN, CP despite lower grain handles

Railways' ledgers weather drought, B.C. disasters

Both of Canada’s big two railways were able to improve their overall gross and net in 2021 over 2020 despite a yield-robbing drought and disastrous track and bridge washouts in southern British Columbia. Canadian National Railway (CN) on Tuesday reported 2021 net income of $4.892 billion on $14.477 billion in gross revenue, up from $3.784 […] Read more

Russian service members take part in tactical exercises of an assault engineering unit at a training ground in Kamensk-Shakhtinsky in southwestern Russia’s Rostov region on Jan. 17, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Sergey Pivovarov)

CBOT weekly outlook: Prices up on hot weather, growing tensions

MarketsFarm — Soybean, corn and wheat futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were all showing some strength Wednesday, recovering from losses posted over the previous week. South American weather concerns and broader geopolitical tensions countered any bearish influence from the latest supply/demand estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. South America recently received much-needed […] Read more


CBOT March 2022 wheat (candlesticks) with K.C. March 2022 wheat (yellow line) and MGEX March 2022 wheat (black line, left column). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Wheat, corn rally to highest since December

Soybeans jump 2.2 per cent

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures surged 3.6 per cent to their highest in more than three weeks on Wednesday, with traders focused on dry and cold weather in key growing areas of the Midwest and southern Plains. Weather concerns also boosted soybeans and corn as investors shrugged off recent rains in South America. […] Read more

CBOT March 2022 soybeans (candlesticks) with Bollinger bands (20,2). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Soy eases on outlook for rain on South American crops

Corn inches higher; CBOT wheat touches one-week low

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures slumped on Friday to their lowest price in more than a week under continued pressure from forecasts for rain in dry South American growing areas, analysts said. Soybean futures have retreated about three per cent since reaching July highs a week ago on concerns about […] Read more


CBOT March 2022 corn (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (yellow, orange and dark green lines). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn, soy sag on South America weather forecasts

Argentina rain outlook tempers crop fears

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn and soybean futures tumbled on Thursday on expectations that rains forecast for dry crop-growing areas of South America may limit harvest losses, traders said. Weather forecasts show parched areas of Argentina, the world’s top exporter of processed soy and No. 2 producer of corn, may receive significant rainfall from […] Read more

Seeding in southwestern Manitoba in the spring of 2021. (Manitoba Co-operator file photo by Alexis Stockford)

Last year was world’s sixth-warmest on record, U.S. scientists say

Heat content of oceans at record level, NOAA says

Reuters — Last year ranked as the sixth-warmest year on record, causing extreme weather events around the world and adding to evidence supporting the globe’s long-term warming, according to an analysis on Thursday by two U.S. government agencies. The data compiled by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA also revealed that […] Read more


Sea surface temperature anomalies over the equatorial Pacific Ocean for the week centred on Jan. 5, 2022. (CPC.ncep.noaa.gov)

La Niña likely to continue into spring, U.S. forecaster says

Reuters — La Nina conditions are likely to continue during the Northern Hemisphere spring, a U.S. government weather forecaster said on Thursday. The La Niña weather pattern, characterized by unusually cold temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, has a 67 per cent chance of persisting from March through May this year, the National Weather Service’s […] Read more

ICE March 2022 canola (candlesticks) with 20-day moving average (yellow line) and November 2022 canola (green line, left column). (Barchart)

ICE weekly outlook: Despite declines, signs point to increases for canola

MarketsFarm — Although old-crop canola was falling back midway through the week of Jan. 10, analyst David Derwin of PI Financial in Winnipeg said the oilseed should “grind higher” in weeks to come. “The fundamentals haven’t changed at all — they’re not going to get more canola out of the ground until the fall,” he […] Read more