Flea beetles in canola seedlings. (Canola Council of Canada video screengrab via YouTube)

Eastern Prairies’ wet conditions may curb insect pest risk

Late-seeded crops may germinate more quickly in warmer soils

MarketsFarm — If there could be one benefit to the excessive moisture across much of southern Manitoba and the Interlake region, that would be a potentially reduced risk for insect pests, according to John Gavloski, entomologist for Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Resource Development. For example, Gavloski cited flea beetles, which could damage canola. “If [canola] […] Read more




ICE July 2022 canola (candlesticks, right column) with 20-day moving average (yellow line) and CME July 2022 crude palm oil (orange line, left column). (Barchart)

ICE weekly outlook: Canola books steep rise in prices

MarketsFarm — Canola prices, along with other edible oils, received a strong boost on Wednesday due to sharp upticks in Malaysian palm oil values. Canola futures have also received support from a bullish forecast this week from Statistics Canada on planted acres for this spring. Despite the Indonesian government stating Monday its export ban on […] Read more

(Thinkstock photo)

Prairie cash wheat: Red spring falls back, durum rises

U.S. wheat futures down on week

MarketsFarm — Wheat prices on the Prairies during the week ended Thursday incurred moderate losses in Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) and Canada Prairie Spring Red (CPSR) while durum (CWAD) pushed upward. Declines in the U.S. wheat complex led the way, with a higher Canadian dollar this week adding more pressure on Prairie wheat prices. […] Read more


One Canada Square (tower at centre) houses the London head office of the International Grains Council. (Iliffd/iStock/Getty Images)

IGC tweaks old-crop numbers, makes bigger changes in new-crop

MarketsFarm — There were a few tweaks to the old-crop data in the April supply/demand report from the International Grains Council (IGC) on Thursday — but somewhat more significant numbers for its new-crop projections. For the 2021-22 crop year, the IGC bumped up total global grain production by three million tonnes at 2.287 billion tonnes, […] Read more


(iStock/Getty Images)

Pulse weekly outlook: No worries about delayed planting in Manitoba

'Farmers can get stuff in pretty quick'

MarketsFarm — Despite an influx of snow across southern Manitoba, with more precipitation in the forecast for this week, a provincial pulse specialist isn’t too concerned about the potential for late planting of pulse crops. “The moisture is welcome, but it’s not the weather we would like to see at this time of the year. […] Read more


A drought-hit cornfield at Nao-Me-Toque in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul state on Jan. 9, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Diego Vara)

Brazil’s changing conditions threaten corn crop

MarketsFarm — Over the last three to four weeks growing conditions in Brazil have pulled a complete reversal — and that poses a serious threat to the country’s corn crop, according to Dr. Michael Cordonnier of Soybean and Corn Advisor Inc. The southern half of the country is now faced with wet conditions, while the […] Read more