Hedging is a big scary word to many farmers. And it's understandable — it's an account that can flucuate significantly, making it seem like you've lost money. But, unlike speculators that never grow or store crops, farmers are in a unique position to use hedging as a low-risk price management tool. Why? Because as your... Read More
Category: Markets
Mid-summer is typically a lower price window in the cattle market, and this year is no different. What is different, however, versus the last few summers, is the cattle-feeder friendly weather and crop prices building for this fall. As Shaun Haney and Anne Wasko, of Gateway Livestock, discuss in this latest Beef Market Update, seasonal... Read More
For a bit of a change of pace, Shaun Haney and Anne Wasko sat down face to face for this edition of the Beef Market Update. Filmed at the International Livestock Congress held last week in Calgary, Alta., this Beef Market Update covers several good news topics in stark contrast to last year's discussion at... Read More
In what is being described as a “momentous occasion” by its chairperson, the Board of Directors of Cigi (Canadian International Grains Institute) has approved a new governance model for the institute, according to a press release. The change, approved at its annual general meeting on June 18, will see board membership expand to include representation... Read More
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
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