Wheat in some areas looks healthy, such as this Middlesex County field, but experts say to get out of the vehicle and check.

Have patience when deciding fate of winter wheat fields

Wet, cool conditions making predictions of wheat success difficult

Wheat needs heat. With few truly warm days seen so far — as well as unfavourable planting conditions in the autumn of 2018 — agronomy experts say to not rush in condemning your winter wheat. “We had an estimated 900,000 acres of wheat planted last fall; 89 per cent was soft red, seven per cent […] Read more

Adzuki beans are planted in between wheat rows.

Relay cropping adzuki beans into winter wheat

A Woodville-area farmer aims to benefit from multiple crops in one field

A volunteer crop from the previous year growing between the rows of the present year’s crop represents a nuisance to most farmers, but not to Dustin Mulock. Instead, a patch of volunteer adzuki beans growing — as he described it to the recent annual general meeting of the Ontario Bean Growers (OBG) — “a stone’s […] Read more

American farmers will likely plant more corn acres in 2019.

U.S. farmers seen planting more corn, less soy in 2019

The USDA estimates winter wheat seedings will fall to a 110-year low

Reuters – American farmers will plant 92 million acres of corn this spring, up from 89.1 million last year, while reducing soybean acres to 85 million acres from 89.2 million in 2018, the United States Department of Agriculture projected Feb. 21. The USDA projected U.S. all-wheat plantings for 2019 at 47 million acres, down from […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

U.S. grains: CBOT wheat rallies on short-covering

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures rallied on Thursday for the second time in three days, hitting their highest in more than a week as investors scrambled to unwind short positions, traders said. The short squeeze came as the winter wheat crop in the U.S. has been breaking dormancy. “I think […] Read more

CBOT May 2019 wheat with Bollinger bands, a gauge of market volatility. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Wheat rallies as investors cover shorts

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures jumped 5.5 per cent on Tuesday, rebounding from contract lows on a round of technical buying and bargain hunting in an oversold market, traders said. Corn and soybeans also were higher after recent declines, but their gains paled in comparison with wheat as traders unwound bearish positions despite […] Read more


CBOT May 2019 wheat with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages.

U.S. grains: Wheat sinks on plentiful global supply

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures slid for a second consecutive session on Tuesday to the lowest in 10 months as cheaper exports from producers including Russia weighed on demand for U.S. supplies. Soybeans also fell, giving up the last session’s gains, as a rapidly advancing harvest in top exporter Brazil boosted global supplies. […] Read more

CBOT March 2019 wheat with Bollinger (20,2) bands. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Wheat retreats from five-week high

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat and corn futures closed lower on profit-taking and a lack of market-moving news on Thursday while soybeans firmed, buoyed by concerns about the size of Brazil’s crop. Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) March wheat settled down 4-1/2 cents at $5.21-1/2 per bushel (all figures US$). CBOT March corn ended […] Read more



Fall rye flowering in south-central Manitoba. (Allan Dawson photo)

Fall rye’s popularity catching on Prairies

CNS Canada — It’s good and bad news when it comes to winter cereal acreage in Western Canada. Winter wheat acres in Manitoba and Saskatchewan are down this fall, while acreage in Alberta increased, and fall rye acres in all provinces rose. “I think a lot of the guys that were growing winter wheat have […] Read more

Due to late harvests, there are a lot less reports of winter wheat seeding happening in fields, which will result in less scenes such as this.  Photo: File

Early winter wheat seeding estimates see reduced acreage

CNS Canada — Firm numbers for winter wheat seeding on the Prairies are not yet available, but there are firm opinions about how it went. “It’s very difficult to seed winter wheat on land that still has a crop on it,” said Monica Klaas, a contract agronomist for Ducks Unlimited’s Western Winter Wheat Initiative based […] Read more