This week Henry Vos resigned from the Canadian Wheat Board for several reasons. I talked to him this morning so that he can get his reasons in the open and in the clear. Whether you agree with Henry's decision to resign, it is very visible that Henry feels strongly about his reasons and what is... Read More
Category: Western Canada
Now that it looks like the Canadian Wheat Board's single desk is about to be extinguished, it seems that the main stream media has turned its focus to the Canadian Dairy industry. Is the CWB situation the same as the supply mananged dairy industry? Should the Canadian dairy industry be in Gerry Ritz's cross hairs... Read More
The USDA October Cattle on Feed Report came out late last week with one number in particular well above U.S. analysts estimates. The October 1st on-feed inventory was roughly a percent above estimates, re-establishing the impact the drought in key cattle producing parts of the U.S. is having on the regular flow of cattle. The... Read More
Winter. We all know it's coming, but it's the waiting that really gets you. This is the time of year when you can't make any definitive plans based on the weather because everything is just so uncertain in this time between seasons. So when will this winter get started, and what should we be looking... Read More
The announcement of the building of the AGT durum processing plant in the Regina area is welcome news for producers in that area. Strangely enough, it's also news that's stirred up some controversy. Some proponents of the single desk call it a fallacy and a ploy, while some on the other side call it... Read More
With harvest 2011 almost complete across the country except for the Eastern corn, everyone is getting ready for winter. Farmers never seem to take enough pictures of their hard work through the growing season. The growing season presents challenges but no time brings a farm more together than harvest. Harvest is harvest is about hard... Read More
The Alberta & Saskatchewan Cattle on Feed report came out last week and a number of over arching themes emerged. The small herd numbers are evident when we take a look at feed yard placement numbers and heifer retention. The strong calf prices seem to be driving that heifer retention as ranchers consider replentishing the... Read More
For farmers in the West finished harvest, there is a tendency to sit back and breathe a big sigh of relief and rightly so. However, as any farmer who's had a bin full of grain go bad can tell you, it's not a time to sit back and forget about that crop. Monitoring and conditioning... Read More
Yesterday the Federal Conservatives released the new CWB bill which for the first time outlines it's intentions for the CWB in a non-single desk world. The Act includes everything from the repeal of the old act to the dissolving of the current Board of Directors including the release of Chairman Alan Oberg. We discussed this... Read More
As the bulk of the prairie harvest progresses to completion, there are still some areas of the west that are lagging behind because of less than stellar conditions. One of those areas is the Peace Region of Northern Alberta. This growing season has been less than kind to them and the harvest has been slow... Read More