Opinion: Gorbachev’s Ontario farm walk that changed the world

Mikhail Gorbachev’s recent passing has prompted many retrospectives about his role as the last leader of the Soviet Union and the downfall of communism. Few, however, know of his connections to agriculture – and a walk in the fields of southern Ontario during his first trip to North America – that helped inform his views […] Read more

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Prairie cash wheat: Putin comments raise wheat bids

MarketsFarm — Comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin brought more uncertainty to Ukrainian wheat shipments, which in turn helped raise western Canadian wheat bids for the week ended Thursday. On Wednesday at an economic forum in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, Putin said the Ukrainians were “cheating,” adding that grain shipments from the country […] Read more

File photo of a docked grain vessel at a Black Sea port in Turkey. (Bfk92/E+/Getty Images)

U.S. working with U.N. on Russia food, fertilizer export complaints

Black Sea pact up for renewal in November

New York | Reuters — The United States is working with the United Nations to address Russian complaints that sanctions are hindering its food and fertilizer shipments, even though there has been no disruption to Moscow’s exports of the commodities, a senior U.S. official said on Friday. The United Nations, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia agreed […] Read more

Analysts and policy makers in the west have been on the back foot since the annexation of Crimea. Their tendency to react, rather than adopt a proactive stance, has given Putin carte blanche to pursue his own ends in Ukraine.

Opinion: Grain shipments offer dim hope

The EU should have seen the Ukraine war food and energy crises looming

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has resulted in four interrelated security crises. The war in Ukraine is a tragedy for human security, but it affects geopolitical security as well as food and energy security. These four crises have been compounded by the failure of coercive diplomacy. This is a form of diplomacy that uses either sticks […] Read more

File photo of a docked grain vessel at a Black Sea port in Turkey. (Bfk92/E+/Getty Images)

U.N., Moscow discuss Russian grain, fertilizer exports

Grain not getting to poorer countries, Putin alleges

United Nations | Reuters — Senior U.N. and Russian officials met in Geneva on Wednesday to discuss Russian complaints that Western sanctions were impeding its grain and fertilizer exports despite a U.N.-brokered deal to boost Russian and Ukrainian shipments of the commodities. The United Nations, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia agreed on July 22 on what […] Read more


CBOT December 2022 wheat (candlesticks, right column) with MGEX and K.C. December 2022 wheats (yellow and orange lines, right column) and October 2022 West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude (gray line, left column). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Wheat, corn, soy fall on economic concerns

U.S. Midwest's harvest nears

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures fell more than four per cent and corn and soybeans slipped on Thursday on mounting concerns about a global economic slowdown, analysts said, just as the Midwest crop harvest nears. Wall Street stocks came under pressure as data showing that U.S. manufacturing grew steadily in August rattled some […] Read more


CBOT November 2022 soybeans (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (yellow, green and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn, soybeans steady

U.S. Midwest rain, Ukraine sea exports add pressure

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago soybeans inched higher on Wednesday, bouncing from two days of declines, though the recovery was limited by rain improving weather forecasts in the U.S. Midwest. Wheat prices fell, pressured by increased export activity from Ukraine, while corn traded near even. The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade […] Read more



File photo of a field of soybeans under turbines at southern Manitoba’s St. Joseph wind farm. (Dougall_Photography/iStock/Getty Images)

Russia to ban some imports of seeds from Canada, Europe

Canada's Prograin soybean seed on list

Moscow | Reuters — Russia will ban imports of some seeds from several locations in Europe and Canada from Aug. 15, its agriculture safety watchdog said on Thursday, citing non-compliance by suppliers with phytosanitary requirements as the reason. Imports of tomato and carrot seeds will be banned from a nursery of Satimex Quedlinburg, in Germany, […] Read more