Sacramento-based Origin Materials in March started working with bottled-water firms Nestle Waters and Danone on development of plastic bottles made from biomass feedstocks. (Nestle-WatersNA.com)

Bioprocessor coming to Sarnia

Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC) has invested in California bio-based products company Origin Materials. Origin Materials will be building its first commercial-scale demonstration facility in Sarnia, Ont. by late next year. It will be using bio-based feedstocks such as crops and biomass to make new polymers, surfactants and carbon blacks, which are used as fillers and […] Read more

(Lisa Guenther photo)

CBOT weekly outlook: Weather watching trade in summertime

CNS Canada –– Corn and soybean futures at the Chicago Board of Trade are hanging in a seasonal weather-based market, with traders watching crop conditions week-to-week. Corn futures have downside potential, gathering influence from wheat futures and crop ratings in the near term. “I’m looking for an improvement in crop ratings next week, which might […] Read more

(Stephen Ausmus photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

U.S. grains: MGEX spring wheat eases on rains

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. grain and soy futures were mostly lower on Wednesday, with MGEX spring wheat declining from an earlier 2-1/2-year high on pressure from technical selling and forecasts for crop-friendly rainfall, traders and analysts said. Chicago Board of Trade corn futures declined the most as scattered rains fell in the Midwestern crop […] Read more




(Machinerie.com)

Coop federee to exit machinery parts distribution

Citing “a period of pronounced decline” in its farm machinery business, Quebec farm co-operative La Coop federee plans to get out of parts distribution by next fall. The co-operative announced May 30 it plans to “gradually” close its Dispro farm equipment and parts distribution centre at Trois-Rivieres over a 12- to 15-month period from September […] Read more

(Jade Markus photo for CNS Canada)

Washouts shut Hudson Bay Railway for shipping season

Flooding and rail bed washouts on sections of northern Manitoba’s Hudson Bay Railway have led the line’s owner to suspend its operations indefinitely. The closure of the portion of the line running from Amery, Man., about 50 km northeast of Gillam, north to Hudson Bay at Churchill, all but ensures no Prairie grain, other than […] Read more



Spring wheat futures climb to two-year highs

Spring wheat futures climb to two-year highs

CNS Canada — Spring wheat futures in Minneapolis climbed to their highest levels in nearly two years during the week ended Friday, as weather concerns in major U.S. wheat-growing states provided support. The nearby July contract on Thursday hit a session high of US$6.1775 per bushel, the strongest level for the front-month spring wheat contract […] Read more

Sea surface temperature anomalies over the Pacific for the week centred on May 31. (CPC.ncep.noaa.gov)

U.S. forecaster sees El Nino unlikely through fall

Reuters — A U.S. government weather forecaster on Thursday said there are no active El Nino or La Nina patterns and that neutral conditions are likely in the Northern Hemisphere during fall 2017. However, chances for El Nino remain elevated, between 35 and 50 per cent, relative to the long-term average into the fall, the […] Read more