Latest Newsletter

(Dave Bedard photo)
Crops, Markets

ICE weekly outlook: Canola faces supply questions

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CNS Canada — ICE Futures Canada canola contracts moved higher during the week ended Wednesday, as persistent weather problems in Western Canada and gains in world vegetable oil markets provided support. “The most important variable for the canola market is trends in the global vegetable oil markets,” said Mike Jubinville of ProFarmer Canada, noting tight […] Read more
Syngenta’s Interaction Centre at Stein, Switzerland. (Syngenta.com)
Crops

ChemChina reported ready for concessions to clinch Syngenta deal

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Beijing/Zurich | Reuters — State-owned Chinese chemicals group ChemChina is ready to offer more concessions to win European Union antitrust approval for its US$43 billion bid for Swiss pesticide and seed group Syngenta, a source with direct knowledge of the process said. Clinching China’s biggest-ever foreign acquisition is taking longer than planned amid a flurry […] Read more
Stubble on a harvested oat field near Winnipeg. (Shannon VanRaes photo)
Crops

Carbon price worries farmers, fertilizer makers

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Winnipeg/Toronto | Reuters — Canada’s plan to price carbon emissions may weaken the farm sector in one of the biggest grain-shipping countries, raising farmers’ costs and discouraging investment in fertilizer production, industry groups say. Ottawa this month promised a price on carbon emissions by 2018, and will let provinces choose a tax or cap-and-trade system. […] Read more
NASA’s Terra satellite observes Post-Tropical Cyclone Matthew being absorbed by a cold front along the U.S. Eastern Seaboard on Oct. 9 at 11:45 a.m. ET. (NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team)
Livestock

Millions of chickens reported dead in Hurricane Matthew floods

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Chicago | Reuters — Flooding from Hurricane Matthew has killed up to five million poultry birds in North Carolina, most of them chickens, the state’s top environmental official said Wednesday. Donald van der Vaart, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, also told Reuters that some pits that hold hog waste on farms […] Read more
(RussellBeer.com)
Crops

B.C. beer firm to shed Vancouver, Winnipeg breweries

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The owner of Winnipeg’s Fort Garry Brewing and Surrey-based Russell Brewing is set to sell those companies to separate buyers. Vancouver-based Russell Breweries said Friday it plans to sell Fort Garry to an unnamed purchaser for about $7.7 million and Russell Brewing to a B.C. numbered company for $1.8 million. Russell Breweries, whose shares trade […] Read more
A satellite view of Hurricane Matthew at about 1 p.m. ET on Oct. 6, as the hurricane regained Category 4 status. (NASA/NOAA GOES Project)
Crops

U.S. farmers race to ready for Hurricane Matthew’s blast

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New York | Reuters — Hurricane Matthew, the fiercest Caribbean storm in nearly a decade, roiled commodities markets and forced companies from cane refiners to orange juice makers to shutter as it whipped its way toward the southeastern U.S. on Thursday. Southeastern companies were closing down operations ahead of a storm that could threaten some […] Read more
(Dave Bedard photo)
Crops

Agrium, PotashCorp shareholders vote on merger next month

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Reuters — Agrium and PotashCorp shareholders will hold separate meetings next month to vote on a merger agreement between the two fertilizer companies, they said in a filing on Thursday. The all-stock deal would combine Potash’s crop nutrient production capacity, the world’s largest, with Agrium’s farm retail network, North America’s biggest. Agrium shareholders will meet […] Read more
New Brunswick’s Opportunities NB and Regional Development Corporation recently announced a $4 million loan for medical marijuana company Zenabis to put up a new indoor production facility at Atholville, in the province’s north. (Zenabis.com)
Crops

New Brunswick college to launch marijuana cultivation course

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Reuters — A college in New Brunswick plans to institute a program on marijuana cultivation so that students can be trained to work at local companies that produce the drug, a school official said on Tuesday. College Communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick will launch the course sometime next year, said Michel Doucet, executive director of continuing education […] Read more
(Ungava-gin.com)
Crops

Spirits firm Corby closes deal for Ungava gin maker

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Toronto spirits manufacturer Corby Spirit and Wine has closed on its deal for the spirits assets of cider maker Domaines Pinnacle, including the Quebec company’s flagship Ungava gin brand. Corby, whose brands include J.P. Wiser’s whisky, Lamb’s rum and Polar Ice vodka, announced in late August it would pay $12 million cash for the Pinnacle […] Read more

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