MarketsFarm — A new nationwide drought map released by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Canadian Drought Monitor (CDM) shows just how dry conditions are in the Prairies, especially in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Areas in southern Manitoba and southern Saskatchewan have experienced at least six months of drought conditions, according to CDM’s drought assessment as of March […] Read more
Prairies hit hard by drought
Parts of south-central, southwestern Manitoba among driest
Manitoba forage, grassland growers burned by drought
MarketsFarm — An ongoing lack of precipitation, which is showing no signs of letting up in the coming months according to weather forecasts, is already causing problems for Manitoba’s forage and grasslands. Growers in the province have had to deal with three straight years with lower-than-normal precipitation. In 2019, multiple rural municipalities in Manitoba’s Parkland […] Read more
ICE weekly outlook: Canola fundamentals still strong in volatile market
MarketsFarm — ICE Futures canola contracts moved higher during the week ended Wednesday, with the largest gains in the old-crop months amid ongoing concerns over tight supplies. Day-to-day activity could remain volatile at times, but underlying fundamentals should remain supportive heading into the 2021 growing season, according to an analyst. While canola futures have traded […] Read more
U.S. grains: Wheat lifted on spring planting concerns
Near-term tightness in world supply underpins soy, corn
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago wheat futures gained on Wednesday, following the Minneapolis Grain Exchange’s hard red spring wheat higher on concerns that dryness across the U.S. Great Plains could affect spring wheat plantings. Chicago corn gained ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s monthly supply and demand report on Friday, which is expected to […] Read more
Not many snow days this past winter
Reading Time: < 1 minute It was indeed a dry winter, says the province’s latest soil moisture update, but it also says spring and summer precipitation is what really counts. The March 17 update shows three large areas in the North West, North East, and west part of the Southern regions hit one-in-25-year precipitation lows from mid-September to mid-March. “For […] Read more
Saskatchewan to pare school tax mill rate for farmland
EPT mill rates to rise for residential, other properties
Saskatchewan’s latest budget taps down the education property tax (EPT) mill rate it sets on farmland, while raising those mill rates on other property classes. The provincial government, in Tuesday’s budget, set the provincewide EPT mill rate on agricultural land for 2021 at 1.36, down slightly from the previous rate of 1.43. EPT mill rates […] Read more
Record-level grain handles continue for CN, CP
MarketsFarm — Canada’s two largest railways both reported new highs in grain movement for March and for their first fiscal quarters. Canadian National Railway (CN) announced Monday it had moved 2.95 million tonnes of grain last month, beating the previous March record of 2.74 million transported last year. It was also the 13th straight month […] Read more
U.S. grains: Soybean futures advance on supply concerns
Traders watch U.S. planting progress, crop weather
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures jumped on Monday on concerns about U.S. supplies dwindling due to strong export demand and smaller-than-expected plantings. The U.S. Department of Agriculture shocked traders last week by reporting that U.S. farmers plan to sow 87.6 million acres with soybeans this spring and 91.1 million acres […] Read more
Port of Thunder Bay opens for season
MarketsFarm — The 2021 navigation season is officially underway at the Port of Thunder Bay, as the tugboat Sharon M1 and barge Huron Spirit arrived late Friday. The tug-barge combo discharged a calcium chloride brine solution, used as a stabilizer and dust suppressant. The same combo also opened the season 2020, one year ago to […] Read more
Top court upholds federal carbon pricing policy
Farm groups, fearing unsustainable costs, press for next steps
Calgary/Ottawa | Reuters — Canada’s Supreme Court ruled in favour of the federal government’s carbon pricing policy on Thursday, upholding a central pillar of Prime Minister Justin’s Trudeau’s climate plan and infuriating some provinces that opposed it. The country’s top court said climate change is a threat to Canada as a whole and upheld the […] Read more
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