Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures rose on Friday, supported by concerns that arctic temperatures in key growing areas could damage the dormant crop during the weekend, traders said. “Cold temperatures, chiefly domestically, lesser so abroad, will keep the wheat trade watching winterkill prospects over the weekend,” Matt Zeller, director of market information at […] Read more
U.S. grains: Weather worries push wheat futures higher
Soybeans firm, corn slips
U.S. livestock: Cattle futures rally
Cold U.S. weather in focus
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. cattle futures rallied on Friday, supported by cold weather in the United States that was making it hard to put weight on animals. “Weather remains front and center for cattle producers, bitter cold temps will be with us through the weekend and also some sizable snow totals in the southeast […] Read more
Long-range forecast points to cool, wet spring for northern Prairies
MarketsFarm — Central and northern agricultural regions of Saskatchewan and Alberta are forecast to see cooler-than-normal temperatures with above-average precipitation over the next three months, according the latest long-range outlook from Environment Canada. The department’s latest seasonal weather maps, dated Sunday, show a 40-50 per cent chance of above-normal precipitation across most of the northern […] Read more
Alberta crop insurer taps reserve to cut premiums
AFSC to pare premiums by 20 per cent
The reserve at Alberta’s Crown crop insurance agency will be tapped to offset the premiums charged to farmers for the 2021 crop year, and possibly for longer. The province’s Agriculture Financial Services Corp. (AFSC) said Monday its farmer customers will get a 20 per cent discount on crop insurance premiums this year — which on […] Read more
Facing green push on farm, fertilizer makers look to sea for growth
Winnipeg/Oslo | Reuters — Two of the world’s biggest fertilizer producers, CF Industries and Yara International, are seeking to cash in on the green energy transition by reconfiguring ammonia plants in the U.S. and Norway to produce clean energy to power ships. The consumption of oil for transportation is one of the top contributors to […] Read more
EU farmers could get cash to curb emissions from belching livestock
Brussels | Reuters — Farmers should get European Union funding to reduce methane emissions from livestock or increase organic farmland, the European Commission said on Thursday, under plans to make agriculture greener. The EU is nearing the end of a two-year battle to overhaul its massive farming subsidies scheme, to attempt to align the agriculture […] Read more
Climate change will bring drastic change here, say experts
Alberta has been hit hard by extreme weather in recent years, and a new report says more trouble lies ahead
Reading Time: 4 minutes Albertans can expect to see more extreme weather as climate change reshapes the landscape of the Prairies. “There’s quite a bit of strong scientific evidence that, in a warming climate, you can expect extreme weather events to occur with increased severity, in particular flooding and wildfire,” said Dave Sauchyn, director of the Prairie Adaptation Research […] Read more
Manitoba to consolidate and shut agriculture, MASC offices
Province announces 'new rural service delivery model'
Updated, Jan. 7 — Manitoba’s agriculture and resource development department and crop insurance and ag lending agency will close their offices in 21 communities and consolidate others this spring, in a bid to reduce their “physical footprint.” Agriculture Minister Blaine Pedersen on Wednesday announced what the province billed as “a new rural service delivery model […] Read more
Longer-range forecast points to warmer-than-normal winter
MarketsFarm — Warmer-than-normal temperatures are in the long-range forecast across all of Canada for the next three months, according to the latest outlook from Environment Canada. The latest seasonal forecast from the government agency, released Thursday, calls for a 40 to 70 per cent chance of above-normal temperatures from January through March for the western […] Read more
Alberta weather disasters make Top 10 in 2020
Reading Time: < 1 minute It’s an unwelcome honour, but Alberta has two of the top three spots in Environment Canada’s Top 10 weather stories of the year. The June 13 hailstorm in Calgary caused an estimated $1.3 billion in damage – $386 million in smashed or cracked windshields alone along with pummelling “hundreds of thousands of hectares” of grain […] Read more