Five, ten and fifteen day weather forecasts are all the rage these days as mathematical models built by market players (hedge funds and commercials) start to calculate the effects of rain, soil temperatures, and any other data point that you can think of. Some cooler, wetter weather is being forecasted for the American Midwest this... Read More
Category: Markets
Soil moisture conditions across Western Canada are "in reasonably good shape" heading into the 2015 growing season, but there are areas where farmers who might not be accustomed to farming in dry conditions are preparing for a dry start to the year. As Bruce Burnett, weather and crops specialist with CWB, explains in the audio... Read More
If you saw the 2011 movie Contagion, you know how bird flu can be vilified. Movie goers left the theatre scared senseless that any traveller they encountered could be a ticking time bomb, as a result of a virus that appeared to spread from the close association between poultry and humans on some Asian farms.... Read More
North American hog prices have tumbled dramatically from the record highs seen last summer, pushed by a reduced impact from disease, a growing breeding herd and lagging U.S. pork exports. “It’s amazing how quickly things can change, but it does accent how high we were last year as well,” says Tyler Fulton, director of risk... Read More
What a week! A big USDA report; end of the month; end of the quarter; shortened trading week because of the Easter holiday long weekend...if you wanted to see how markets can trade high and low, and all in the same day, this was the week. Corn and oats got the worst of it, both... Read More
After months of anticipation, the grain and oilseed market finally got to see the U.S.D.A.’s acreage estimates for 2015 on Tuesday morning. While traders had braced themselves for some surprises and volatility, most of the numbers in both the Prospective Plantings and Quarterly Grain Stocks reports fell within the range of expectations. However, the numbers... Read More
It's looking more and more like spring in Western Canada, and cattle prices are continuing to impress with seasonal demand, tight supplies and an American dollar hovering around $0.80. In this, the latest episode of the Beef Market Update, Anne Wasko, with Gateway Livestock, talks to RealAgriculture's Lyndsey Smith about prices across the border and... Read More
Weekly grain shipping requirements for CN and CP Rail came to an end on March 28th, as the federal government decided it would not renew the Order-in-Council mandating the railways ship a minimum amount of grain each week. The minimums were implemented in the spring of 2014 to address the backlog of grain across Western... Read More
Tight stocks and a reduction in acres could be supportive for corn prices come Tuesday, as the U.S.D.A. will release its Prospective Plantings and Quarterly Grain Stocks reports. That’s according to Al Kluis of Minnesota-based Kluis Commodities. “We had a lot of test weight problems all the way from Iowa through Minnesota and so when... Read More
Grain markets continue to trade a little erratically with analysts mostly focused on acreage estimates and weather forecasts for the northern hemisphere. The wheat complex started the week out strong but lost said strength over the following days as bearish weather and crop condition reports pushed things lower. Also of note though was the U.S.... Read More