Bayer on Oct. 30 announced integration of the two platforms, which it said will allow grain farmers in Canada and the U.S. to connect their marketing data in Combyne and the agronomic data FieldView gathers from their field equipment.

Seeded-acreage and yield data from FieldView can thus allow Combyne users to accurately track the total bushels available to market without needing to export, upload and enter data twice, Bayer said.

Once a farmer reviews the available FieldView data, using Combyne’s Import Review function, the harvested and projected-yield figures in Combyne will automatically update with the actual figures.

That in turn will make Combyne’s data on percentage sold and net marketed position more accurate, “using your real numbers off the combine instead of rough estimates,” according to Combyne’s website.

Incoming FieldView data will also allow a Combyne user to “know how much of your harvest is already committed and better manage your forward contracting.”

That means a “fuller and more accurate picture of current-year harvest totals and projections for future years to easily update crop contract and storage positions, and enable up-to-date crop marketing decisions,” Bayer said.

Combyne was released to the public in late 2021 by Ottawa Valley farmer Alain Goubau’s company Combyne Ag — previously known as the developer of the grain marketing tool FarmLead, which was sunset in 2020.

Combyne is meant to serve as a record-keeping and decision-making support tool, gathering information on grain storage balances, contracts, deliveries and settlements across multiple buyers — as well as net overall marketed positions per crop.

According to Bayer, which acquired Combyne Ag in January, the Combyne platform allows farmers to manage grain trade documents in one place for a clear view of contractual commitments, delivery status, storage positions and cash flow projections from grain sales, and thus better manage contract risk and delivery logistics.

“With accurate bushel quantities populating your marketed positions, you can better manage things like how forward contracted you are, how much of your harvest is already committed, and where things stand when it comes to your storage and deliveries,” Goubau, now CEO of Bayer’s Combyne Ag arm, said in Bayer’s Oct. 30 release.

“By working with FieldView, delivered grain outcomes in Combyne can eventually be connected back to the fields they originated from and the management choices made on those fields, for better mapping of quality specs such as grade and dockage from delivered loads,” he said.

That, in turn, allows for “field-level profitability insights — mapping actual revenue from sold crops against cost of production per field.”

Climate FieldView, which came to Bayer when it bought Monsanto in 2018, was launched in the U.S. in 2015 and in Canada late the following year.

It was developed by Climate Corp., a Monsanto arm since 2013, as a single platform to unite data from each piece of precision ag equipment, for access via smartphone, tablet or desktop. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Why it matters: Great Lakes Grain already supplies grain marketing expertise to cooperatives and other elevators across the province.

The collaboration “leverages the unique strengths of each company to offer a more comprehensive and customer-focused approach,” the companies said in a release. The partnership, the companies said, is rooted in the idea that each company brings something unique to the table.

Great Lakes Grain is a grain marketing partnership between AGRIS Cooperative Ltd., GROWMARK, Inc. (including FS PARTNERS, a division of GROWMARK, Inc.), and Embrun Co-op. It operates multiple branded locations across Ontario, offering grain marketing solutions and a wide range of products and inputs. Great Lakes Grain operates 28 grain elevators from Windsor north to Barrie and East to the Ottawa Valley.

Bacres Grain Inc. is an independent and fully licensed grain elevator business owned and operated by the Buurma Family in Alviston. It was established to meet the needs of the local farming community. 

Wanstead Farmers Co-operative is a 100 per cent farmer-owned grain marketing and farm-input supply company serving farmer owners in Lambton and Middlesex counties. In addition to providing full-service grain marketing programs, Wanstead Farmers Co-operative also provides precision farming technology, seed, and agronomy services.

The companies said GLG and Wanstead Farmers Co-operative will continue to provide  customers with “dynamic grain marketing opportunities” in Ontario, while Bacres Grain will focus on delivering “operational excellence” at the grain elevator.

Benefits to farmers, said the companies, is industry expertise and more comprehensive services. This includes helping farmers achieve their marketing goals and maximize returns.

Customers that have existing grain contracts with Bacres will be transferred to Great Lakes Grain. Great Lakes Grain will execute these contracts on behalf of Bacres, the companies said.  

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Viterra — whose owners include mining and trading giant Glencore and the investment management firm for the Canada Pension Plan — has decided not to continue its origination and export programs out of Russia after July 1, it said in a statement.

“After this decision, our main task is to save jobs and support the remaining infrastructure. Management plans to continue its grain export business as a new independent Russian exporter, aiming to maintain the competitiveness of Russian grain on the global market and provide the most viable conditions for Russian producers,” Demyanov said.

Russia is the world’s largest wheat exporter.

Viterra and sanctions-hit Russian lender VTB share ownership of a grain terminal in the Black Sea port of Taman. Viterra said on Thursday that it was assessing options to transfer its business and assets in Russia to new owners.

“The details and terms of further infrastructure deals are under discussion,” Demyanov said.

“Once all details have been agreed, Viterra’s shareholders and the buyers of the infrastructure assets will apply to the Russian government commission in charge of foreign investment for approval of the transactions.”

Viterra’s announcement comes a day after rival Cargill said it would take a further step back from the Russian grain market.

Russia’s agriculture ministry said in a separate statement that Viterra’s decision will not affect the amount of Russia’s grain exports.

— Reporting for Reuters by Polina Devitt, Sybille de La Hamaide and Olga Popova.

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The group on Wednesday reported a jump in annual net profit to $1 billion, joining other global crop merchants in benefitting from high prices and strong demand in a year marked by Russia’s invasion of fellow grain exporter Ukraine (all figures US$).

LDC wants to accelerate capital expenditure, including on “complementary” acquisitions, to between $800 million and $1 billion annually during the rest of this decade, CEO Michael Gelchie said in an interview.

That compares with 2022 investments of $549 million, which already marked a rise from $372 million the prior year.

“That can and should be in the form of greenfield or brownfield or M+A-type investments (…), whether that’s core merchandising or in innovative business that really diversifies our portfolio,” Gelchie said.

Last year’s investments included the acquisition of Australia’s Emerald Grain. The deal price was about $102 million, subject to closing adjustments, LDC said in its annual report.

Improved results and the sale of a stake in 2021 to Abu Dhabi holding firm ADQ have eased pressure on LDC and main shareholder Margarita Louis-Dreyfus after years of modest profits and mounting debt.

Like its peers, LDC has been developing food ingredients activities, including plant-based proteins, to tap into consumer trends and be less reliant on commodity markets.

The group announced in December the creation of a food and feed solutions division.

Gelchie declined to give an outlook for LDC this year but said turmoil in the banking sector and rising interest rates may increase market volatility further.

Higher interest rates could dampen commodity demand and prices in the near term, though the longer-term outlook for commodities appeared bullish given an energy transition that has already boosted oilseed crushing margins for renewable fuel in North America, he added.

Regarding upheaval in the banking sector, Gelchie said LDC had no exposure to Credit Suisse and had “secure relationships” with its banks.

He declined to comment on any exposure to Credit Suisse for chairperson Louis-Dreyfus, whose holding firm had a reduced loan arrangement with Credit Suisse worth around $240 million as of September 2021.

— Reporting for Reuters by Gus Trompiz in Paris.

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StoneX Financial (Canada) Inc., a subsidiary of StoneX Group Inc., has launched its Farm Advantage mobile app, which provides growers with market data and intelligence.

Why it matters: The apps aim to provide farmers with market information in a digital format.

Meanwhile, Bayer CropScience has bought Combyne Ag, a Canadian app that helps farmers manage and share their crop marketing and storage data.

The StoneX app is free and provides growers with market quotes, futures pricing, option premiums and historical futures charts.

It contains market analysis from StoneX analysts around the globe and commentary from the likes of fertilizer analyst Josh Linville and chief commodities economist Arlan Suderman.

Cash brokerage bids are available for specialty crops that have no futures markets.

BAMWX provides 36-hour and 10-day weather forecasts factoring in more than 65 weather models. The weather service includes spray forecasts and live radar.

StoneX clients can access their real-time positions, cash balances and statements and use a “back of the napkin” profitability calculator.

There is no ability to execute financial trades on the app, but the company hopes to add that feature and others by the end of the year.

Cassie Adolf, senior vice-president of energy and agriculture with StoneX, said the app is an attempt to appeal to young farmers.

“They want to be able to track the markets on the go,” she said.

They also want to be in control and place their own trades rather than relying on brokers.

“They like to do things themselves,” said Adolf.

Bayer said its purchase of Combyne is part of a broader effort to support the increasingly digital management of farms.

The idea is to link Bayer’s grain production management tools with Combyne’s grain marketing management tools.

Combyne will continue to work as a standalone business unit with an independent brand, software, customer data and team.

“The added resources and investment capabilities now available to Combyne will accelerate the build-out of many new features suggested by our users,” Combyne chief executive officer Alain Goubau said in a news release.

There are no plans to integrate Combyne in Bayer’s Climate FieldView platform, but it will start to appear in other on-the-farm and off-the-farm software.

StoneX’s first foray into the Canadian market came nearly a decade ago with its Know-Risk Commodity Markets market advisory program, which has attracted more than 90 clients in Western Canada.

That was followed in 2019 by a cash brokerage business to provide more price transparency for growers.

Adolf said the Farm Advantage app was first released in the United States in March 2022, where it has attracted about 2,500 users. The hope is to add another 2,500 in Canada by the end of the year.

– This article was originally published at The Western Producer.

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The sale includes the sunflower processing plant in Voronezh.

Bunge and its rivals ADM, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus — part of the so-called ABCD quartet of global grains traders — had begun scaling back their Russian operations in March, following the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Bunge on Monday did not reveal financial details about the deal. Exoil Group did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Bunge invested US$130 million in construction of the Voronezh plant which it opened in 2008, according to the Russian version of its website. The plant has annual capacity to process 540,000 tonnes of raw material which makes it possible to produce more than 200 million bottles of sunflower oil.

“We are grateful to the team for continuing to deliver essential food and feed in this challenging environment,” said Bunge CEO Greg Heckman.

The company has been scaling back its Russian grain trading activities in recent years, including the sale of its Rostov grain export terminal last year.

— Reporting for Reuters by Arunima Kumar in Bangalore.

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A few best management practices at harvest can help avoid those discounts.

Why it matters: Stained or damaged food-grade soybean seeds can have a significant negative impact on farm gate returns. 

Keeping things clean is critical when it comes to equipment and field management. Natalie Hazeleger, quality assurance manager for Sevita International, says it begins by looking for weeds, contamination issues such as volunteer corn or heavily infested areas. If found, a pre-harvest burndown to eliminate green weed, or just combining weedy areas last, might be warranted. 

Hazeleger spoke during a recent Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show digital event. She said equipment and grain storage infrastructure must be cleaned to prevent contamination from other varieties. A small quantity of diatomaceous earth put in the bin with the first or an early load can help prevent insect contamination without incurring risks posed by insecticides. 

“It’s important to remember our customers are making food products. Cleaning out of equipment and storage is important to avoid any GM contamination from previous crops. Ensuring the fields are clean is important to ensure the soybeans are clean, and the product coming off the field is of the highest quality,” says Matt Renkema, grain business manager for Sevita.

Dew and other moisture can quickly ruin a load of food-grade soybeans, the risk being particularly acute early or late in the day. Hazeleger recommends that growers avoid combining at these times when possible. Ensuring equipment is serviced and in top shape helps growers effectively capitalize on good harvest conditions when they occur. 

Moisture levels can change from hour to hour and from field to field. Combine settings should be monitored for variations and to minimize split seeds and cracked seed coatings due to equipment damage. 

“Problems with staining can cause tofu to have a greyish or off colour, whereas if a soybean is split or a seed coat is not intact, it can cause issues in the [factory],” Renkema says. 

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The Grain Discovery app for iPhone, along with its companion online portal for all internet connections was launched on a trial basis at the Prince Edward County-based Lockie Farms Grain Elevator and has now been rolled out to a number of other independent Ontario elevators and their farmer suppliers.

Speaking to Farmtario as soybean harvest neared its close, Lockie Farms General Manager Tiffany Spearing said about 35 per cent of their customers are now using Grain Discovery in some form.

“Some guys are using it only for the information that we are able to provide through the app, but still want to get on the phone and make that call to talk about a sale,” she explained. “But there’s a bunch of other farmers who want to use it for everything.”

Why it matters: When the combines roll, time can be crucial; Grain Discovery eliminates the often time-consuming telephone tag that can precede an agreement to sell crop.

The Grain Discovery start-up began in 2018 exploring the possibilities of using blockchain technology to securely transmit data through agricultural value chains. The proposed benefits range from instantaneous payment for commodities based on accurately-recorded volume and quality, to allowing consumers to trace back the origin of their food from table to farm.

A government-supported pilot project working on Canadian identity-preserved soybean seed was followed up, this past summer, by a collaboration with Alberta-based Olds College to brew and market a consumer-tracking-friendly beer called “Barley Trail Local Lager.”

The launch of the new app signals the company’s entry into the competitive grain trading market. And, according to Grain Discovery CEO Rory O’Sullivan, that’s exactly where they want to be.

“I couldn’t be prouder to see our solution go live,” said O’Sullivan in a news release sent out in early October. “By allowing live pricing, and … instant contract confirmation, we’re eliminating missed marketing opportunities and tedious jobs like juggling calls and manual paperwork. That’s game changing, and I’m thrilled with the response so far.”

O’Sullivan and Grain Discovery Director of Business Development Pete Oram conducted a demonstration over Zoom for Farmtario, showcasing both the elevator interface and the farmer interface (a much shorter demonstration video can also be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM3eulGfcG0&t=46s).

Oram, acting as a farmer, logged into the members-only section of O’Sullivan’s fictional elevator (the CEO’s real-life brother operates three grain elevators in the family’s home country of Australia; Rory hopes to have the Grain Discovery app in his brother’s hands in time for November’s Aussie wheat harvest) and uploaded his harvest of corn available for sale.

The portal includes the elevator’s current price offers. The farmer can either accept that price and click the “sell” link, or upload their own target price.

If they agree to sell, a contract is immediately generated by the app, and communicated to the farmer and elevator. Or if the elevator eventually agrees to the target price, the same occurs.

Both farmer and elevator, meanwhile, have continuous access to the same information about the wider grain marketplace. This is something a number of Lockie Farms customers have come to appreciate – getting an eye, Spearing suggests, into the marketplace that they might not have enjoyed in the past.

“I suppose the original idea for (the app) was born out of the frustrations I had experienced” with his own family’s operation, O’Sullivan said. He added that, from his experience, the same “pain points” exist in the Australian context as in Canada’s grain-trading sectors.

Still to come – as early as a month from now – is the integration of the Grain Discovery app into the elevators’ accounting software. When that happens, farmers will see instantaneous updates of their status as crop is delivered to the buyer. They’ll have weigh tickets, quality information and payment details.

“Some farmers might choose to print (this information) off and add it to their files or, ideally, it starts to eliminate the need for filing cabinets in offices,” Oram predicted, “because you now have all this information in one place.”

“You’ll even be able to look back on previous years to see when you delivered, how much, how much was paid.”

From the elevator or buyer perspective, an immediately confirmed agreement to sell gives them the opportunity to hedge that volume on the grain trading market, instead of waiting until the farmer gets enough time away from the combine to finish and deliver the paperwork.

And Spearing says it’s great that her staff can now arrive at a farm, open their phone, and have immediate updates if the price being offered has changed since they left the office. “I don’t have to have a whiteboard with a number on it that I have to go and change,” Spearing notes, “because it’s all there for everybody to see on the app.”

Grain Discovery aims to introduce the app into western Canada and Australia in the coming months. O’Sullivan says Ontario is an ideal testing ground because it has a lot of smaller, independent elevators but is also a much smaller market, volume-wise, than the Prairies. The response so far, he asserts, leaves him confident about growth.

“Another thing that’s great about this technology,” the CEO noted, “is that it can work for anything from a mom-and-pop elevator to a large organization with multiple large locations. It’s very scalable.”

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California-based FBN, which has operated in the U.S. since 2014 and expanded to Canada in 2017, announced Tuesday (Sept. 15) its farmer members may now have “access to a select range of ever-expanding products and services without having to pay an annual membership fee.”

The fee, which in Canada last year was $800, paid for access to the company’s seed, input and insurance e-commerce sites, farm data analytics, grain marketing services, input financing, satellite imagery and aggregated data on crop performance and input efficacy, gathered from information provided voluntarily by other FBN members.

Under the new free-membership model — which still requires farmers to register with the company — fees may apply for “certain product and service offerings” other than FBN membership, the organization said Tuesday.

“Farmers have had many hard years in a row. But this year was the hardest. As a company we do not want any current or prospective members to worry about membership costs,” FBN said in its announcement.

FBN, which today operates in Australia as well as Canada and the U.S. with about 14,000 members in all, said it’s now “stepping up to provide access to a select portfolio of offerings, all of which are focused on creating transparency, competition and helping you lower your costs and increase your profit potential.”

FBN’s arrival in the Canadian marketplace led earlier this year to the launch of an investigation by the federal Competition Bureau — not into FBN itself, but rather into other major agribusinesses’ and wholesalers’ response to the company’s entry into Canada’s seed and crop input markets.

A Federal Court judge in February ordered several companies to hand over records and communications, related to the bureau’s probe into allegations that a number of manufacturers and wholesalers had either refused or restricted supply to FBN.

The bureau said at the time it was also “investigating whether some of these entities may have engaged in co-ordinated behaviour against FBN,” but emphasized there was “no conclusion of wrongdoing at this time.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Archer and her husband, Pete, have a 1,500 cash crop farm and own three grain elevators in eastern Ontario. She presented 10 tips for grain marketing at the recent Grey-Bruce Farmer’s Week Crops Day.

Why it matters: Planning ahead means producers can make a better profit from their crops.

No. 1: Don’t worry about what you can’t control

No one can control the weather, so worrying about it is a wasted effort, but farmers can make sure the equipment is ready for when it clears up, says Archer.

No. 2: Have a plan

While farmers can’t control the politics that drives prices, they can have a merchandising plan. Even having a plan doesn’t guarantee a profit, so Archer advised that producers be prepared to sell any time the markets are up.

“You just can’t use the strategies your parents and grandparents used — yields per acre are way higher and we’re farming more acres,” Archer said.

There’s also a lot more volatility in prices, which is good for both buyers and sellers, she said.

No. 3: Have good numbers

“Know your numbers,” she said pointing to the third habit. “You want to standardize your numbers to per acre because you don’t want to think about price, but about profit.”

She outlined five steps she uses with her customers:

• Estimate how much production you want to sell.
• Figure out the production cost per acre including land preparation, fertilizer, seed, spray application, rent (or a rent equivalent if land is owned), planting, harvesting, trucking, drying and crop insurance.
• Set a profit goal per acre, or how much money they want to make.
• Calculate a target price, which is the cost per acre added to the profit goal per acre divided by the yield per acre.
• Assess the goal and take action, being careful to make sure it is achievable and that not too much profit is being left on the table.

“You need to assess whether there are costs that you could be cutting or you need to grow more,” Archer said. “You need to grow as much as you can as economically as you can.”

She also said producers need to compare the price they calculate with what’s being offered in the marketplace.

No. 4: Use orders

The fourth habit she recommends is to use target orders, also called sell orders and standing orders, which are the threshold price at which producers want to sell. Once the market prices hit that mark, the elevator will sell the grain.

She suggested using this method because it’s free, strategic and flexible.

Archer emphasized the importance of setting the target order early, before planting, because it gives more time for the target to be reached.

No. 5: Make incremental sales

Producers can sell their crop in 50 or 100 tonne parcels in four or five sales per year. The advantage is that if producers sell one parcel and the price goes up, there’s more to sell. Once there’s nothing left to sell, they can start selling next year’s crop.

No. 6: Forward contracting

“About 70 per cent of the time your best pricing opportunities come prior to harvest,” she said, adding that many producers are afraid of forward contracting because they may not be able to fulfill the contract or the price will go higher than indicated in the contract.

In a five-year comparison between customers who forward contracted and those who sold at harvest, Archer said that the forward contractors made 46 cents more a bushel for corn, 90 cents a bushel more for soybeans and 58 cents a bushel more for wheat.

“There’s a huge difference in what you can make,” she said, adding that she crunched the numbers for her customers and arrived at a $202,000 advantage for forward contractors over 10 years, using a five per cent return.

“If you farm over 50 years, that’s a million bucks — you just won the lottery by making a few simple changes in your marketing strategy,” Archer said.

No. 7: Managing seasonal tendencies

There are certain times of the year when the markets will behave in a predictable way, and Archer has an ‘always, never’ list that she uses with her customers to take advantage of the best times of year for selling:

• Always have cost-of-production-based targets for corn and beans
• Always look at selling wheat one to two years out
• Never put corn or wheat in commercial storage
• Never wait past July 4 to forward sell or finish old crop (drop-off after spring rally)
• Never sell corn or beans in late September or early October
• Always look for the 75 cent ‘dead cat bounce’ three weeks after the harvest low price. In 2019, it was on Sept. 20, and for the next three weeks, prices recovered by 75 cents a bushel.

No. 8: Take out production insurance

Production insurance can be used both in reactionary way when crops fail, and in a proactive way to mitigate revenue risk.

“If a crop guarantee for insurance purposes is at 30 bushels of soybeans an acre, you can forward contract for 30 bushels an acre when you know there are good prices available to you,” she said.

No. 9: Know the buyer

Not all buyers are the same and there’s more to the relationship besides price, including hours of operation, how they deal with contract shortages, how they deal with quality issues, such as last year’s problems with DON, and their trucking services.

No. 10: Be reasonable

Archer said that producers need to be realistic about what they can achieve. She advised that it’s a smart move to hire someone else if producers can’t do everything themselves, especially if it means planting or harvesting can’t be done in a timely or proper way.

“Intentions are not profitable, actions are,” she said.

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