The amount of data we can collect on farms has grown exponentially over the last decade or two. Whether it’s through yield monitors, images captured by satellites or drones, smartphone apps or RFID sensors, our ability to track and record what’s happening has come a long way from the pocketbooks of earlier generations. And there’s... Read More
Category: Markets
There were roughly 95 million cattle in the United States as of July 1, 2014, a 3% drop from 2012 numbers, but that could turn around, according to John Navlinka of Sterling Marketing. “I think we’re beginning to build herds and it’s going to be slow — it’s not going to be a rapid buildup... Read More
2014 started out with a lot of frustration: Grain was hardly moving through Canada as the Great White North experienced some record cold temperatures and record ice cover on the Great Lakes. With the railroads making more money moving oil, elevators couldn’t take deliveries and the amount of ships sitting at the port waiting for... Read More
The odds of a fertilizer shortage in Western Canada this upcoming spring are lower than they were last year, according to a Saskatchewan-based sales manager for fertilizer manufacturer Yara Canada. “We’re off to a good start. We’ve actually had record Q1 shipping of all products in Western Canada,” explains Dean Anderson in the interview below,... Read More
It’s been a wild finish to a wild year in the beef market, with prices dropping off over the last few weeks from the record highs set in November. While feeder cattle futures dropped by the limit for five consecutive days in mid-December, producers should not lose sight of the fact there’s still strong fundamental... Read More
Global markets were blindsided by Russia in the third week of December as Moscow raised its key interest rates to a shocking 17 per cent, up significantly from the 10.5 per cent level they had been just raised to a few days earlier. Why the rate increase? The ruble has been free-falling this year with... Read More
Transparency needs to be built into the federal government’s plan to create a producer payment protection fund for Western Canada, says the chair of Keystone Agricultural Producers’ grains, oilseeds and pulses committee. Farm groups, including KAP, Grain Growers of Canada and the Canadian Canola Growers Association, are generally welcoming Bill C-48, which was introduced in... Read More
Dr. Stephen Koontz, of Colorado State University, is shining a light on a rather complicated, but incredibly important part of how cattle prices are currently set. Markets and marketing evolves over time, and the cattle industry is no different. Koontz says that the strong transition from a negotiated cash trade, to formula and forward pricing... Read More
A combination of a poor malt barley crop this year and a longer-term downward trend in malt barley acres is leading North American maltsters and brewers to import more barley from Europe. An estimated 70 to 80 percent of the barley crop in Western Canada was hit by rain or snow just prior to harvest,... Read More
Rumours are building again that Russia may limit their grain exports (specifically wheat) and the government might start increasing the purchasing price from farmers for the government reserve stocks (the government is definitely worried about rising domestic food prices). This would incentivize producers to sell to the government versus grain merchants/exporters. SovEcon said earlier in... Read More