Cargo ships are docked in Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa on Nov. 4, 2016. (File photo: Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko)

As Ukraine grain deal emerges, U.S. aims to ease concerns over Russia sanctions

Washington | Reuters –– The United States on Thursday sought to facilitate Russian food and fertilizer exports by reassuring banks, shipping and insurance companies that such transactions would not breach Washington’s sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. Enabling those Russian exports is a key part of attempts by the United Nations and Turkish […] Read more

File photo of tea plantations in Sri Lanka. (Dmitrii Anikin/iStock/Getty Images)

Rajapaksa dynasty draws to humiliating close in Sri Lanka

Food shortages, fertilizer ban among flashpoints

Colombo | Reuters — The Rajapaksa dynasty dominated Sri Lankan politics until April when street protests against fuel and food shortages began to slip out of control. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country early on Wednesday, leaving no one from the once-illustrious family in a position of power. The president vowed last month to stay […] Read more

Supply shortages for some herbicides and fungicides leaves U.S. farmers worried about yields and weed pressures in coming years.

‘Off the charts’ chemical shortages hit U.S. farms

Tight supplies force some farmers to change plans, find alternatives where they can

Reuters – U.S. farmers have cut back on using common weedkillers, hunted for substitutes to popular fungicides and changed planting plans over persistent shortages of agricultural chemicals that threaten to trim harvests.  Spraying smaller volumes of herbicides and turning to less-effective fungicides increase the risk for weeds and diseases to dent crop production at a […] Read more

Soileos and AGT show off some of their product line- up at the announcement.

Micronutrient fertilizer to fully commercialize

Announced facility will be the first major manufacturing facility for Soileos

Glacier FarmMedia – Three years ago, startup Lucent BioSciences was producing one kilogram a day of its novel micronutrient fertilizer Soileos, drawn from crop byproducts like pea or lentil hulls.  Once a recently announced manufacturing plant in Rosetown, Sask., goes online, it will be churning out upwards of 6,500 tonnes a year.  Why it matters: […] Read more

(PortofThunderBay.com)

Thunder Bay grain exports picking up

MarketsFarm — Grain movement through the Port of Thunder Bay picked up in June, although total grain exports through the facility on the north shore of Lake Superior remain well off the year-ago level. A total of 625,741 tonnes of grain were shipped during the month, marking the first time of the season that grain […] Read more


Field of young corn with farm in background

OMAFRA discontinues annual nitrogen survey

The survey may be replaced with a better program to advise farmers on nitrogen applications to corn

An annual soil nitrogen test survey led by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) has been discontinued for 2022, with the ministry’s corn industry program lead Ben Rosser hoping to work with partners to come up with what he describes as a more effective and easily-administered replacement. The Pre Sidedress Nitrogen […] Read more

WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is congratulated by India’s commerce minister Piyush Goyal after the June 17, 2022 closing session of a WTO ministerial conference in Geneva. (Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/Pool via Reuters)

WTO strikes global trade deals deep into overtime

Deals reached on food security, health and fishing; formerly defiant India joins consensus

Geneva | Reuters — The World Trade Organization’s 164 members approved a series of trade agreements early on Friday that included commitments on fish and pledges on health and food security after more than five gruelling days of negotiations. The deals were ground out over five days of bargaining at a conference of more than […] Read more

File photo of a bulk port facility in Ukraine. (Olivia Sabeskaya/iStock/Getty Images)

Turkey says Ukraine grain ships could avoid mines

Russia offers safe passage

Ankara/United Nations | Reuters — Russia on Wednesday said it has offered “safe passage” for Ukraine grain shipments from Black Sea ports but is not responsible for establishing the corridors and Turkey suggested that ships could be guided around sea mines. Ukrainian grain shipments have stalled since Russia’s invasion and ports blockade, stoking global prices […] Read more


Ottawa will not ease Russian fertilizer tariff

Ottawa will not ease Russian fertilizer tariff

Opposition says lack of government action hurts Canadian farmers

Glacier FarmMedia – Ottawa will not exempt buyers from the tariffs on Russian fertilizer even if the purchases were made before sanctions were imposed March 2. The Conservatives pressed the government during question period late last month and again in the House of Commons agriculture committee. Agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said the 35 per cent […] Read more