Underwhelming production prospects for the 2011-12 wheat crop are boosting values for both new- and old-crop wheat and durum in the Canadian Wheat Board’s latest round of pool return outlooks. Wheat values in the CWB’s May 2011-12 PRO, out Thursday, are up by between $10 and $16 per tonne from April levels, while durum values […] Read more
Lowered new-crop expectations support CWB’s PROs
WTO seen putting chill on U.S. COOL
Claims that a new preliminary World Trade Organization ruling favours Canada's 2009 challenge of U.S. country-of-origin labelling (COOL) have popped up from all manner of sources -- just not from official Ottawa or Washington or the WTO itself. Sources reporting at least a partial victory for Canada's challenge include the Washington-based National Cattlemen's Beef Association[...]
Canadian farms’ gross hits record high in Q1
Farm cash receipts for Canadian farmers totalled a record high of $12.1 billion during the first quarter of 2011, up 8.8 per cent from the year-earlier period, according to Statistics Canada. This follows a 7.5 per cent decline between the first quarters of 2009 and 2010, the federal statistics agency said in a report Wednesday. […] Read more
Net farm income rises on lower costs in 2010
Realized net farm income in Canada amounted to $4.5 billion in 2010 — a 46.1 per cent increase from 2009, as a decline in operating costs outpaced a slight dip in receipts, according to Statistics Canada. The increase in 2010 followed a 16.6 per cent drop in 2009, the federal statistics agency said in a […] Read more
Iraq sees higher wheat harvest, to suspend imports
Iraq expects its wheat harvest to increase to between two million and 2.5 million tonnes this year, the agriculture minister said on Tuesday, up from 1.866 million tonnes in the 2009-10 season when rains were good. “We expect wheat to be above two million tonnes,” Izzedine al-Dawla told reporters. Al-Dawla also said he had asked […] Read more
Prairies’ winter wheat crop and acres falter
The wet and late spring that hit the eastern part of Canada's Prairies has hurt the progress of the area’s winter wheat crop. “I have seen very little winter wheat out of the ground. There is nothing I can see around here, or in the more southern parts of the province,” said Jake Davidson, executive[...]
Klassen: USDA report sets negative tone
Feeder cattle prices were $2 to $3 lower across Western Canada, with prices dropping an additional $1 to $2 late in the week. Steers weighing 620 pounds sold for $135 per hundredweight (cwt) in central Alberta, down $4 from a week earlier; lighter steers weighing 500 to 550 lbs. sold in the range of $138/cwt […] Read more
N.D. wheat, corn acres losing to soy, sunflower
Farmers in the top wheat state of North Dakota will not get all their intended wheat, corn and canola acres seeded this spring due to heavy rains and flooding, an executive of a U.S. wheat group said Friday. “No question the increased intentions on wheat, corn and canola will not be met in North Dakota […] Read more
ICE planning spring wheat, durum futures contracts
ICE Futures Canada is preparing to offer separate spring wheat and durum futures contracts if the federal government follows through with its plan to end the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly on the marketing of those commodities. "We would be remiss in our duty if preparations were not in place for this potential inevitability," ICE Futures[...]
Video: A roundtable on stalled spring seeding
Lyndsey Smith, editor of Grainews, joins host Shaun Haney of RealAgriculture.com and editor Claire Cowan of Ontario Grain Farmer for a discussion on Canadian grain growers' challenging spring so far, up to and including this week. In this interview, recorded Thursday, Lyndsey and Claire discuss the conditions keeping many farmers off the fields and potentially[...]