Alberta snow further delays canola harvest, boosts prices

Alberta snow further delays canola harvest, boosts prices

MarketsFarm — Canola futures finished up at Monday’s close, boosted by a weather premium after a low-pressure system brought considerable snowfall to parts of Alberta over the weekend. Snow was mostly concentrated in the southern region of the province. Calgary and surrounding areas received around 30 centimetres of snow, according to preliminary results from Environment […] Read more

ICE January 2020 canola (candlesticks) and CBOT January 2020 soybeans (yellow line). (Barchart)

ICE weekly outlook: Canola values stay rangebound

MarketsFarm — Canola prices have been characterized as “firm one day and softer the next,” this week, remaining largely rangebound in light trading activity. “It’s hard to tell why, but canola oscillates between stronger than soybeans and then weaker,” said Ken Ball of P.I. Financial in Winnipeg. “It’s just spreaders playing back and forth with […] Read more


File photo of a pea crop south of Ethelton, Sask. on Aug. 1, 2019. (Dave Bedard photo)

Pulse weekly outlook: Pea harvest nearly complete

MarketsFarm — Canada’s pea crop is almost totally off the fields, but quality remains a question. “Farmers are wrapped up with harvesting right now, so we haven’t received many samples,” said Marcos Mosnaim of Globeways Inc. in Missisauga. The few samples the company has seen have shown good conditions, but it’s not a large enough […] Read more


ICE November 2019 canola with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

ICE weekly outlook: Canola breaks out of week-long funk

MarketsFarm — It’s unclear yet what effect Thursday’s satellite field crop estimates from Statistics Canada will have on markets. Canola broke out of a six-day funk Wednesday, trending just slightly higher for the first time since Wednesday last week. Technical biases remain to the downside, as prices hover around contract lows. “There are a lot […] Read more


(Dariusz Banaszuk/iStock/Getty Images)

Hay shortage in Manitoba Interlake reaches tipping point

MarketsFarm — A state of agricultural emergency has been declared in 12 municipalities, mostly in Manitoba’s Interlake region, due to chronically low hay yields. Drought and grasshoppers have hindered crops to the point that hay production is about 25 to 30 per cent of average. “We’ve moved cows out of pastures because the grasshoppers ate […] Read more

(Country Guide file photo)

Cash wheat: Western Canadian bids mixed

MarketsFarm — Wheat bids in Western Canada were mixed for the week ended Thursday. Small gains and marginal losses were observed in CWRS, CPSR and durum wheats. Average CWRS (Canada Western Red Spring, 13.5 per cent protein) wheat prices were down $3-$5 per tonne at most locations. The outlier was in northwestern Saskatchewan, where prices […] Read more

(Doug Wilson photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Large oat production won’t move prices

MarketsFarm — While the most recent crop production report from Statistics Canada predicted significantly more oats than originally expected, prices will likely remain stable. Statistics Canada estimated 3.952 million tonnes of oats will be grown in 2019, up considerably from the 3.436 million tonnes produced in 2018. But low carryover stocks from previous years means […] Read more


(Ablokhin/iStock Editorial/Getty Images)

CBOT weekly outlook: Traders watching weather

MarketsFarm — Corn contracts have tested contract lows on the Chicago Board of Trade, and markets are in need of a bounce. “If contract lows get taken out, you’re talking almost another 10 cents to the downside,” said Steve Georgy, president of Allendale Inc. at McHenry, Illinois. “It’s going to be very important for us […] Read more

(Jennifer Blair photo)

Hemp yield uncertain ahead of harvest

MarketsFarm — While Canada’s licensed hemp acreage nearly doubled from 2018 to 2019, yield estimates will remain uncertain until licensed producers report their crops to Health Canada after harvest. “Health Canada, for the first time, will be collecting information on hemp acres that were seeded, rather than hemp acres that were licensed,” said Ted Haney, […] Read more