Grain prices this week ended mixed as speculative players took profits off the table amidst growing weather and geopolitical risk. Delays in U.S. corn plantings and concerns about Chinese trade dominated the headlines. It’s still early, but just 3% of the U.S. corn crop was planted as of Sunday. Conditions this week weren’t great in... Read More
Category: Western Canada
A strike by around 3,400 conductors, engineers and signal maintainers who work for Canadian Pacific Railway has been averted, at least temporarily. Members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference-Train & Engine (TCRC) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) would have walked off the job starting after midnight on Saturday morning. Instead, TCRC and... Read More
The Canadian Grain Commission has announced it is moving five more Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) wheat varieties to the new Canada Northern Hard Red (CNHR) wheat class due to these varieties not meeting gluten requirements for Western Canada's flagship CWRS class. After hearing concerns about gluten strength from customers, the Grain Commission tightened the... Read More
With the ink still drying on a trade agreement that was supposed to reduce barriers to trade, a protectionist measure has shut out one of Canada's largest single product exports to Europe. Durum wheat shipments from Canada to Italy have been halted since October, shortly after the Italian government announced it was moving ahead with... Read More
Prairie grain farmers are urging the federal government to take action to prevent workers with CP Rail from going on strike as early as this weekend. A strike now would only add to the problems with grain movement this crop year. Around 3,000 conductors and engineers who are members in the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference,... Read More
With increasing cases of herbicide resistance, machines designed to destroy weed seeds at harvest could be a valuable tool. But like any technology that is not yet widely adopted, there are also some lessons to be learned and challenges to overcome, as researchers with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada confirmed last year. 2017 marked the first... Read More
It's mid-April and a huge part of Western Canada, Ontario, and the northern U.S. is digging out after a late winter blast of snow, freezing rain, and ice. As May looms large in the next 14 days, we have to ask — when should we start to panic about a late planting season? May 1st... Read More
With the European Union granting its conditional approval in late March, and U.S. antitrust authorities reportedly set to give their thumbs-up signal, Canada's competition regulator has yet to issue its decision on Bayer's proposed acquisition of Monsanto. The US$66 billion deal, which was originally announced in September 2016, has significant implications in the Canadian market,... Read More
It's been a difficult — if not devastating — start to the year for many in the agricultural community. And just when areas of North America were finally seeing a respite, and what could possibly have been called spring-like conditions, we're hit with another round of ice pellets, freezing rain, rain, and/or snow. For ranchers,... Read More
Update, as of Wednesday: Both unions have served CP Rail with 72-hour strike notice, clearing the way for a strike to begin after midnight on Saturday morning. When asked on Tuesday whether the federal government would consider back-to-work legislation, Transport Minister Marc Garneau said he's following the situation closely: "Remember that we are a party... Read More