Loading grain on a vessel at a Burrard Inlet terminal. (Maxvis/iStock/Getty Images)

Ocean freight rates at decade highs

MarketsFarm — Ocean freight rates have climbed steadily higher over the past year, recovering from the lows hit at the start of the pandemic in early 2020 to see their highest levels in over a decade. The Baltic Dry Index (BDI), a major indicator of shipping rates, hit a high of 3,266 points on Wednesday. […] Read more

CBOT July 2021 soybeans with Bollinger (20,2) bands. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn tops $6 a bushel, soy at seven-year high

CBOT wheat also books life-of-contract high

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn futures climbed to their highest in nearly eight years on Tuesday and soybean futures neared a seven-year high as tightening supplies supported cash markets and attracted speculative buying, analysts said. Worries about dry conditions curbing corn yields in Brazil and cold weather slowing germination of the 2021 U.S. crop […] Read more

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland arrives to a news conference prior to delivering the budget in the House of Commons in Ottawa on April 19, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Blair Gable)

Federal budget to offer direct payments to farmers for carbon pricing

Other new 'green growth' funding also on deck

The federal government’s 2021 budget offers up new spending to support farmers combatting climate change through targeted investments — and, in some cases, direct payments. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland released the budget Monday, showing the majority of new spending will take place over three years and be largely focused on “green growth.” “Budget 2021 announces […] Read more

Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland appears at a news conference in Ottawa on Sept. 24, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Blair Gable)

Agriculture, agrifood wish lists pile up ahead of long-delayed budget

Freeland's budget due out Monday afternoon

Agriculture and agrifood sector stakeholders will learn Monday which of their requests make their way out of the pile and into a long-awaited federal budget. Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s 2021 budget is scheduled to be released Monday in the House of Commons, at about 4 p.m. ET. Canadians didn’t get a 2020 budget: it […] Read more

Loading grain on a vessel at a Burrard Inlet terminal. (Maxvis/iStock/Getty Images)

Grain, oilseed exports at strong pace

MarketsFarm — Canadian grain and oilseed exports continue at a strong pace, with movement of canola, wheat and barley all running well ahead of the year-ago pace. Crop-year-to-date exports of Canada’s major grains and oilseeds as of Sunday came in at 37.78 million tonnes, according to Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) data. That’s up by roughly […] Read more


(Nadezhda_Nesterova/iStock/Getty Images)

Compensation programs hatched for feather sectors

On-farm investment, market development plans on deck

Long-awaited programs to make up for market share lost to imports under the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact are set to roll out to Canada’s chicken, egg and turkey farmers. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and caucus colleagues on Tuesday announced the specific contents of her previously-pledged $691 million, 10-year compensation funding envelope: a Poultry and Egg […] Read more

(Viktorcvetkovic/E+/Getty Images)

On-farm cybersecurity campaign gets backing

Glacier FarmMedia to link up with federally-funded project

A campaign to assess, reinforce and promote cybersecurity across Canada’s ag sector — partly through this website and its sister publications and events — has been tapped to receive multi-year federal funding. Public Safety Minister Bill Blair on March 25 announced over $500,000 over four years through the federal Cyber Security Co-operation Program for the […] Read more

MGEX May 2021 spring wheat (candlesticks) with 20-day moving average (gray line) and CBOT May 2021 wheat (orange line). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Wheat lifted on spring planting concerns

Near-term tightness in world supply underpins soy, corn

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago wheat futures gained on Wednesday, following the Minneapolis Grain Exchange’s hard red spring wheat higher on concerns that dryness across the U.S. Great Plains could affect spring wheat plantings. Chicago corn gained ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s monthly supply and demand report on Friday, which is expected to […] Read more


A canola field near Pincher Creek, Alta. (Laughingmango/E+/Getty Images)

Japan increases demand for canola

MarketsFarm — Japan has continued to generate an increased demand for canola, according to Daisuke Sasatani, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) attaché in Tokyo. Sasatani said approximately 98 per cent of Japan’s canola imports are from Canada, while Australia supplies the remainder. The attaché estimated Japan’s canola imports in 2020-21 are to rise by […] Read more

(JBSFoodCanada.ca)

JBS profit bolstered by weak currency, strong Chinese and U.S. markets

China became third largest beef export market for JBS Canada, company says

Sao Paulo | Reuters — Meat processor JBS SA’s fourth-quarter profit rose 65 per cent from a year earlier, boosted by strong food sales in China and the U.S. and a sharp devaluation of Brazil’s real currency, the company said in a securities filing on Wednesday. For full-year 2020 its profit was 4.6 billion reais, […] Read more