(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Cattle herd still shrinking in StatsCan estimates

The size of Canada’s cattle herd is still in decline and almost a quarter smaller than its peak in 2005, Statistics Canada reports. The federal statistics agency on Thursday released estimates showing the herd at 13 million cattle on farms on July 1 this year, down 2.1 per cent from the same date in 2014. […] Read more



(Dave Bedard photo)

Trade expects mostly smaller crops in StatsCan report

CNS Canada –– Statistics Canada will release its first survey-based Canadian crop production estimates for 2015-16 on Friday, and figures for most major crops are expected to be down compared to last year. Yields are likely to be all over the map as weather conditions varied vastly from region to region during the growing season. […] Read more

(Canada Beef Inc. photo)

Short-term barley prices seen likely to downtrend

CNS Canada — Feed barley prices are moving slowly with hand-to-mouth buying as the crop moves into harvest, when already low prices will likely hit a downtrend. However, prices will likely recover into autumn, depending on how farmers choose to act, from where one market analyst sits. “If the farmers aren’t willing to sell at […] Read more


A rye cover crop. (Stephen Ausmus photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Rye prices seen high, but stable

CNS Canada –– Rye crops have been reacting to Saskatchewan’s heat and dryness by developing faster than they would normally be — but healthy crops elsewhere appear to be helping to keep global prices stable, at least for the time being. U.S. crops may stop rye prices from moving too turbulently, at least until Canada’s […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Yields to take precedence over acres in Canada

CNS Canada –– Canadian farmers seeded a bit more canola and a bit less wheat than originally expected, according to updated acreage estimates from Statistics Canada, released Tuesday. However, worsening drought conditions in the western Prairies over the past month and the need for reseeding due to frost damage earlier in June mean actual yields […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Questions abound ahead of StatsCan acreage report

CNS Canada — Statistics Canada will release its updated acreage estimates for the year on Tuesday, but the timing of the survey could lead to more questions and second-guessing than normal given the likely adjustments and yield losses over the past month. The survey was conducted before a drought took hold in Alberta and Saskatchewan, […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Wheat, canola stocks surprisingly tight in StatsCan report

CNS Canada — Canada’s ag industry was surprised to see some tighter-than-anticipated supply estimates in Statistics Canada’s latest report on stocks of grain and oilseeds Wednesday morning. StatsCan said Canadian wheat supplies, as of March 31, totaled 16.74 million tonnes — about a million lower than expected, said Mike Jubinville of ProFarmer Canada. “On the […] Read more