(Country Guide file photo)

Canada’s realized net farm income way down in 2018

Stagnant farm cash receipts against significant increases in feed, fuel and interest costs have led to Canada’s biggest decline in realized net farm income in over a decade. That’s according to Statistics Canada, which on Tuesday released full-year farm income data for 2018, pegging realized net farm income for the year at $3.9 billion, down […] Read more

Ag Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau speaks at Cigi in Winnipeg on March 13, 2019. (Dave Bedard photo)

Timing not yet set on expanded advance payments for canola

MarketsFarm — With no clear end in sight to the dispute between China and Canada over Canadian canola, producers are anxious to know how and when they might access support programs to maintain cash flow. Since plans to help canola growers through expansions to the federal Advance Payments Program (APP) were announced May 1, there […] Read more

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Huge increase predicted in canola ending stocks

MarketsFarm — Canadian canola carryout stocks are forecast to rise to a record 5.3 million tonnes by the end of the 2019-20 marketing year, more than doubling the previous five-year average, according to updated estimates from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s market analysis division. While the department, in its estimates, expects total canola production to decline […] Read more

ICE July 2019 canola with Bollinger (20,2) bands, a gauge of market volatility. (Barchart)

ICE weekly outlook: Little for canola bids to stand on

MarketsFarm — There wasn’t much available to sustain a bounce in canola prices, from where David Derwin sits. “It’s really tough to say. We had canola drop so much over the last couple of months and sometimes it’s ‘buy the rumour, sell the fact,’” said Derwin, a commodities portfolio manager with PI Financial in Winnipeg. […] Read more

Federal Conservative leader Andrew Scheer speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons in Ottawa on April 10, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Chris Wattie)

Canada needs ‘reset’ on China, Scheer says

Ottawa | Reuters — Canada’s opposition leader on Tuesday attacked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for being too soft on China and said there needs to be a “total reset” on relations with the Asian powerhouse. Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer spoke amid an escalating diplomatic dispute that has followed Canada’s arrest of Huawei Technologies chief […] Read more



Federal International Trade Diversification Minister Jim Carr speaks at the China-Canada economic and financial strategy dialogue in Beijing on Nov. 12, 2018. (Photo: Reuters/Jason Lee/Pool)

Canada ‘playing chess’ on canola file

MarketsFarm — Canola seed sales to China remain at a standstill with little fresh news to report, according to a Canola Council of Canada briefing to farmers held Friday morning together with federal International Trade Diversification Minister Jim Carr. However, efforts on a number of fronts are ongoing, as Canada works to resolve the issue. […] Read more

Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announces expansion of the federal Advance Payments Program in Ottawa on May 1, 2019, flanked by Trade Diversification Minister Jim Carr (l) and his fellow Winnipeg MPs Dan Vandal, Robert Falcon-Ouellette and Terry Duguid. (Video screengrab from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada via Facebook Live)

APP pumped up, AgriStability deadline extended against China canola ban

The federal Advance Payments Program’s loan limits and interest-free portions will be raised and the deadline for AgriStability enrolment extended in a bid to help Canadian canola growers with cash flow. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and International Trade Diversification Minister Jim Carr on Wednesday announced the expansions and extensions along with plans to engage other […] Read more


Manitoba Conservative MP James Bezan (l) and ag and trade critics Luc Berthold and Randy Hoback (centre) meet with farm and canola sector representatives including Keystone Agricultural Producers president Bill Campbell (right) and canola grower Brian Chorney (second from left) on April 24, 2019. (Dave Bedard photo)

Canada promises farm aid amid China canola spat

Ottawa/Winnipeg | Reuters — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday said Ottawa would soon announce help for canola farmers hurt by a China ban on imports of the oilseed but brushed off calls to pull funding for a Chinese-led investment bank. China and Canada are locked in a diplomatic and trade dispute that has […] Read more

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Canadian farm exports hit new Chinese obstacles amid diplomatic dispute

Winnipeg/Beijing | Reuters — An expanding list of Canadian farm exports is hitting obstacles at Chinese ports, leaving sellers of soybeans, peas and pork scrambling amid a bitter diplomatic dispute. China has already blocked Canadian canola from Richardson International and Viterra, two of Canada’s biggest farm exporters, saying that shipments had pests. Other China-bound canola […] Read more