It's tough being a small fish in a big pond. In this case, Canada's beef industry is that minnow in the giant ocean that is the U.S. beef industry. Or perhaps that's not fair — it would seem the big hiccup with the entire mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) fiasco is that, according to... Read More
Category: Markets
To say it was a tough winter is perhaps an understatement. High feed costs, cold weather and the dollar at par or better weighed on the cattle market well into the spring. Add the misery of more stringent COOL requirements, and there have been some grumpy faces in the cattle market these days. Brian Perillat,... Read More
A cool start delayed corn planting in the U.S., so much so that there's a rumoured 78 million acres of soybeans in the ground down south. A late start means the critical pollination period of the crop — a huge factor in determining yield — into the typically hot weeks of late July. While the... Read More
Farmers and analysts alike will be watching Friday's USDA report for several reasons, and one of them will be the soybean acreage number. Poor planting weather in many corn-heavy U.S. states has many thinking the shift out of corn and into soybeans puts the total acres somewhere north of 77 million acres. If it's below... Read More
Pricing new crop is rarely a low-risk venture — the crop is a long way from made and there's a mountain of weather information, seeded acreage reports and variable demand to distill down into an opinion on price direction. It's exactly that type of distilling that Moe Agostino, with Farms.com Risk Management, does on a... Read More
Hot on the heels of Alberta rolling out its own wheat commission, farmers and politicians alike were on hand at Canada's Farm Progress Show to announce the launch of the Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission and the Saskatchewan Barley Development Commission. RealAgriculture.com's editor, Lyndsey Smith, sat down with Gerrid Gust, who farms at Davidson, Sask., and... Read More
The crop is in and growing, the sprayer is running and farmers are keeping an eye on fungicide timing. Which probably means, of course, that it's time to think about what to sell off the combine. Those who are disciplined have likely already priced some crop, but many are just now getting comfortable with committing... Read More
The Canola Council of Canada recently announced the findings from an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada-funded Chinese study that suggests dairy cattle fed canola meal significantly increased their total milk production. The study shows that when used in dry rations, meal from Canadian canola can increase daily milk production by .6 kilograms per cow, according to... Read More
Grain Farmers of Ontario has refreshed the Ontario Wheat Pool brand in an effort to introduce new and young farmers to this marketing tool for the 2013-14 crop year. The re-branding includes a new logo and a new online Wheat Marketing Tool for those unfamiliar with the wheat pool. The tool is intended to help... Read More
Feedyards have moved from having to wait for cattle to be lifted for weeks on end to a situation where the market is very current. This has put a little needed marketing power in the hands of feedyards instead of the packer. The strong basis has beena n excellent incentive to sell cattle on schedule... Read More