Canadian chickpea exports in April were down from the previous month.  Photo: File

Pulse weekly: Canadian pulse exports slowing

Glacier FarmMedia – Canadian pulse exports are showing signs of slowing down entering the final months of the 2023/24 marketing year, as end users turn their attention to the looming availability of new crop supplies. Canada has exported 1.286 million tonnes of lentils during the crop year-to-date, running about 25 per cent behind the pace […] Read more

The trade tension between Canada and the United Kingdom is focused on beef and cheese.

Canada-U.K. free trade talks remain comatose

Upcoming election in the United Kingdom may explain why little short-term hope remains on the trade agreement front

Glacier FarmMedia – One year ago, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak published an open letter to farmers in his country. Released May 16, 2023, it focused on agricultural trade and British government priorities for future free trade deals. Why it matters: Trade talks between the United Kingdom and Canada fell apart earlier this year. Sunak […] Read more

Photo: Narvikk/iStock/Getty Images

U.S. shuns free trade agreements

Senators rake the U.S. Trade Representative over the coals for the Biden administration’s trade policy agenda

Virginia Houston, director of government affairs with the American Soybean Association, says president Joe Biden’s administration feels FTAs pit U.S. domestic industries against one another.


New EU regulations could challenge Canadian edible bean production and exports.

How EU policies may affect domestic edible bean production

Latest round of trade-enabling moves must be monitored

The edible bean complex is a unique market among row crops. Whether white, black, kidneys or adzukis, beans are grown under contract and face more consumer- and quality-based directives than corn or soybeans. Yet there are rising concerns about maximum residue limits (MRLs) set out by the European Union for certain chemical products. Although the […] Read more

Photo: WTO

How to fix the WTO for agricultural disputes

‘I think we have no choice but to try to rebuild it’ says former trade negotiator

Glacier FarmMedia – A rebuilt World Trade Organization would benefit agriculture, according to long-time Canadian trade negotiator Steve Verheul. Verheul was among those at the Canadian Federation of Agriculture’s annual meeting in late February. Why it matters: Canadian agriculture thrives on trade, and that relies on effective and enforceable trade rules. It’s his belief that […] Read more


World stocks of wheat, excluding China, have declined for four straight years, with inventories at their lowest level in 15 years.

World wheat supplies may recover in 2024

Some analysts expect a rebound but others aren’t as confident

Glacier FarmMedia – Gro Intelligence is forecasting a rebound in global wheat supplies in 2024 after multi-year declines. World stocks of the crop, excluding China, have declined for four straight years and inventories are at their lowest level in 15 years. Why it matters: World wheat demand affects pricing for the winter wheat grown by […] Read more

Demand from China and U.S. dairies helps drive the price of hay, which dropped in 2023.

Export hay prices show serious decline in 2023

Less demand from China, better U.S. growing conditions and Japanese vertical integration affect markets

Violent whiplash” is how forage markets in the western United States are described by Joshua Callen of the Hoyt Report of Idaho. He spoke at the recent Canadian Forage and Grassland Association convention in Harrison Hot Springs in British Columbia. Why it matters: A “perfect storm” hit the North American hay market in 2023, says […] Read more

American beef exporters such as Tyson Foods have faced a double whammy from higher prices and the strength of the U.S. dollar, which makes their products less attractive to other countries.

Tyson feels beef squeeze

Company experiences tighter margins as U.S. reduces beef exports amid shrinking herd

The United States is importing record amounts of beef this year and exporting less after ranchers slashed the nation’s cattle herd to its lowest level in decades. That has tightened margins for meat companies including Tyson Foods. The decline in cattle numbers, after years of drought-fried pasture, led to soaring U.S. beef prices. Higher prices […] Read more



The North American cattle industry is concerned with what they feel is Brazil’s non-compliance with the BSE standards developed by the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) with respect to atypical cases of the disease.

North American beef leaders urge disease vigilance

President of American industry group sounds alarm over what he says is Brazil’s non-compliance with BSE standards

Glacier FarmMedia – The United States, Canada and Mexico must do more to protect the North American cattle herd from illnesses such as foot-and-mouth disease and BSE that threaten the continent’s multibillion-dollar beef sector, said an American industry leader. Brazil is non-compliant with the BSE standards developed by the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) […] Read more