Grains all ended the week lower as planting continues south of the 49th parallel with some activity here in Western Canada but things have been slowed by some sporadic, cooler weather. The USDA’s progress report is showing us that corn sowing is slightly behind schedule with the southeast and eastern regions way behind. As a... Read More
Category: Markets
The grass is greening up, the calves are hitting the ground and the steaks are about to hit barbeques across North America, even as cattle prices flirt with new record highs. There’s no way around it — it’s a great time to be a cattle producer in Canada. No one begrudges the cattle industry some... Read More
Statistics Canada published its annual pre-seeding acreage estimates on Thursday morning. As expected, the planting intentions survey showed Canadian farmers plan to seed more wheat, oats and barley and less canola and soybeans than in 2014 (see chart.) There were some surprises in the report, as the canola acreage projection of 19.4 million acres was... Read More
Years of financial and regulatory challenges have taken a toll on pork production in Manitoba, to the point where the province’s largest hog processing facility now needs around 175 new barns built to operate at full capacity, according to the company’s president and CEO. Speaking at the Manitoba Pork Council annual meeting in Winnipeg on... Read More
Cattle markets typically have seasonal high and lows that you can track and capitalize on...except in the last while, when it seems the markets haven't stayed true to the more predictable pattern we've come to expect. With the first quarter of 2015 behind us, cattle markets are flirting with and surpassing record highs, but April... Read More
Just like NHL players have to step their game up for the playoffs, it’s a “pitter, patter, let’s get at ‘er” kind of feeling in the agricultural industry. We’ re hitting that time of the year where field activity is picking up steam. The most recent USDA crop progress report shows that seeding in the... Read More
Less than three years after the end of the Canadian Wheat Board’s single desk, the CWB is on the verge of becoming a private grain company controlled by a joint venture between global grain business Bunge and the Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company — the Saudi Arabian government’s primary agricultural investment arm. The new... Read More
A shortage of low-fusarium feed wheat and the decreased value of the Canadian dollar are supporting the cash price for corn on the eastern side of the prairies. Old crop Chicago futures have been trading in the US$3.65 to US$3.95 range since early January, while cash bids in southern Manitoba have risen to between C$4.50... Read More
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
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