(Dave Bedard photo)

FCC offers to bend terms for soaked Prairie growers

Canada’s federal farm lender says it will be flexible with qualifying Prairie crop growers facing financial trouble from a rain-soaked harvest season. Areas of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have experienced “significant levels of rain in the last half of the growing season and snow since the beginning of October,” Farm Credit Canada said in a […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

U.S. grains: Soybeans, wheat edge higher on short-covering

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. grain and oilseed futures were mostly higher on Tuesday, with soybeans rebounding from an earlier five-month low on support from investor short-covering ahead of a U.S. Department of Agriculture quarterly stocks report due on Friday. Rainfall delayed the U.S. corn and soybean harvests, while heavy precipitation could curb wheat output […] Read more

Harvest action on the evening of Aug. 28 near Domain, Man., south of Winnipeg. (Shannon VanRaes photo)

Rain expected for Prairies into weekend, next week

CNS Canada — Rain is going to slow weekend harvest progress in parts of the Prairies, though farmers in most areas will still be able to get into their fields, one meteorologist says. But as temperatures drop, some late-maturing crops may have been hit with frost damage. Showers are expected to slow weekend harvest activity […] Read more

(WeatherFarm.com)

Soggy conditions stress Saskatchewan’s crops

CNS Canada –– Crops were hit hard by rain in many parts of the province during the period of July 5-11, according to a report from the Saskatchewan government. Lloydminster, Estevan and Carrot River were just a few of the communities hit hardest by the precipitation. In some cases, areas in eastern and southern regions […] Read more

Rainfall for July 13, 2016 as of 6:40 p.m. CT. (CoCoRaHS.org)

Storms trim potential for big Prairie crops

Reuters — Heavy rain and strong winds are likely to curb the potential for Western Canada’s crops, government officials said, but the harvest may still be bigger than average. Pockets across Saskatchewan, Canada’s biggest wheat- and canola-growing province, received as much as five inches of rain, strong winds and hail since Sunday. The storms flattened […] Read more


Chicago oats rally with Prairie rains, for now

Chicago oats rally with Prairie rains, for now

CNS Canada — Oat prices at the Chicago Board of Trade have advanced as rain soaks Canada’s crops, but one U.S. analyst doesn’t expect those gains to hold. Close to half of Canada’s seeded oat area is in Saskatchewan, Statistics Canada data shows, and some parts of the province have seen heavy rains and flooding. […] Read more

(WeatherFarm.com)

Rain causes extreme haying delays

CNS Canada –– Excessive rain and high humidity over the past few weeks are causing major problems for haying operations in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. “We should be well underway in our progress and I think we are far behind right now,” said Leanna Rousell, executive director of the Saskatchewan Forage Council. The majority of Saskatchewan […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Flax growers scout soggy fields as prices edge upward

CNS Canada — Producers are assessing the effects of weekend rains that soaked flax crops in Western Canada, while prices have ticked up slightly as data reflects shrinking acres. Flax fields in western Manitoba saw thunderstorms and powerful winds, which knocked out power in some areas of the province during the weekend. Parts of southeastern […] Read more


A wheat crop in standing water. (Colton Yoder photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Wet wheat weather watched worldwide

CNS Canada — Generous rainfall has benefited but also boosted the risk of disease on wheat crops in much of Canada and the U.S., and has also cut into grain quality in parts of Europe. However, according to Drew Lerner of U.S. forecast agency World Weather Inc., conditions during the harvest season will be the […] Read more

Eastern Ontario, parts of the Near North and a region bounded by Essex to Niagara are the worst hit by excessive dryness. (Map courtesy Weather INnovations)

Pearce: Precipitation maps have Ontario farmers seeing red

It’s official: Spring 2016 will go down as an excessively dry season for Ontario growers — and most hope the summer will be considerably wetter. Last week, we cited reports of stressed-but-surviving corn and soybean crops in midwestern Ontario, which had received spotty showers early in the week. The crops were showing signs of drought-stress […] Read more