(Nutrien video screengrab via YouTube)

Nutrien to produce ‘most potash ever’ in 2022

Company to ramp up production in response to Ukraine conflict

The world’s biggest potash-producing company is set to produce more potash in 2022 due to “uncertainty of potash supply” coming out of Eastern Europe. Saskatoon-based Nutrien, which has an estimated 20 million tonnes of potash-mining capacity across six mines in Saskatchewan, said Wednesday it plans to boost its output for 2022 to 15 million tonnes, […] Read more


Parts are already in short supply in Ukraine, and farmers are stockpiling and lending and borrowing amongst themselves. (Ihor Pavliuk photo)

Farming behind the lines in Ukraine

A Ukrainian agriculture journalist chronicles the challenges of sowing a crop during wartime

Ukrainians will farm their land, even in the face of war. In the Kherson area of southern Ukraine, where war rages and the city of Kherson is seen by the Russian invaders as strategic, a column set out on Monday. This was a column of tractors, under the flag of Ukraine. In it were farmers […] Read more




CBOT May 2022 corn (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (yellow, orange and green lines). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn eases on Ukraine ceasefire talks

Argentina restricts soymeal, soyoil exports

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago corn fell on Monday, pressured by uncertainty in the Black Sea region as talks of a ceasefire in Ukraine could open up the region to exports, though progress remains uncertain. Wheat eased early in the session, but returned to near even on news that Russia is suspending exports to protect […] Read more

The USDA building in Washington, D.C. (Art Wager/iStock/Getty Images)

USDA opens inquiry into fertilizer, seed prices

Reuters — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is opening an inquiry into the impacts of concentration in the fertilizer, seed and retail markets. The inquiry stems from the Biden administration’s July 2021 executive order to promote competition across the U.S. economy, the agency said in a release Friday. Global supply chain problems and inflation have […] Read more

CBOT May 2022 wheat (candlesticks) with MGEX May 2022 spring wheat (yellow line) and K.C. May 2022 hard red wheat (orange line). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Wheat, corn up; soy down

'Panic... seems to have subsided a bit'

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures rose on Friday after posting sharp declines in the previous two sessions as traders assessed the latest developments in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that has disrupted grain shipments. Trading in wheat remained volatile as market participants wrestled with the possible extent of disruption of wheat from Ukraine and […] Read more


Anti-tank ‘hedgehogs’ are seen in Maidan Nezalezhnosti Square in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, on March 9, 2022. Farmers are among those assembling the obstacles, set up to block roads against advancing armoured vehicles. (Yevhen Kotenko/Ukrinform/Abacapress.com via Reuters)

Bread and war: Farmers in the fight for Ukraine

Agriculture, being the most important industry in Ukraine, will play a large part in the war, a Ukrainian ag journalist writes

It is very difficult to explain what a person feels when they’re awakened at 5 a.m., when a rocket explodes near their house. That’s exactly what I experienced Feb. 24. The first thing I did was fill my car with gasoline. Then we bought a lot of products we thought we might need — medicines […] Read more

Grain storage at a Russian seaport. (Pridannikov/iStock/Getty Images)

Moscow retaliates against sanctions with export bans

Reuters — Russia sought on Thursday to retaliate against Western sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine by banning exports of certain goods and agricultural commodities. Exporting telecom, medical, auto, agricultural, electrical and tech equipment, as well as some forestry products, will be banned until the end of 2022. “These measures are a logical response […] Read more