The federal government is extending — but also reducing — the weekly minimum grain shipping requirements for Canada’s two national railways, as it aims to resolve the remainder of the grain backlog in Western Canada. A new Order in Council will take effect on Sunday, November 30th and require CN and CP Rail move between 200,000 and 465,000 tonnes of grain… Read More
Year: 2014
Grain prices closed the month of November generally higher as colder weather and transportation issues in the U.S. helped prices maintain an elevated level. While most Americans were putting the turkey in the oven, OPEC, the cartel of major oil-producing nations like Saudi Arabia, declined to ease their production from the current 30 million barrels-per-day…. Read More
Innovations in agriculture are increasingly centred around improving efficiencies to both time and labour. The Neeralta grain extractor and bag roller is no exception. Extracting grain from 9′, 10′ and 12′ bags, it’s easy to operate, quick to transition and can drop grain bags directly onto the back of a truck or trailer. Have you entered the… Read More
Louis Dreyfus Commodities today announced the appointment of Mayo Schmidt as the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective January 5th, 2015. Schmidt will succeed interim CEO Claude Ehlinger, who will continue in his existing roles of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Louis Dreyfus Commodities and Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of Biosev. Ehlinger has also been promoted… Read More
Lower commodity prices will likely lead farmers to adopt technology and practices that maximize fertilizer efficacy, says the head of a North Dakota-based precision ag machinery manufacturer. Speaking at the AgriInnovation Forum in Winnipeg last week, Howard Dahl, president and CEO of Amity Technology, said he sees a period of tighter margins driving producers to try new… Read More
Today, the United States officially lodged an appeal to the third and most recent World Trade Organization ruling on Country of Origin Labelling (COOL). Canadian Ministers are not pleased with the announced appeal. The Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade and the Honourable Gerry Ritz, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food issued the following statement… Read More
Wild and whacky weather, tumultuous markets, the plight of the honeybee and more will feature prominently on the agenda of the 2015 Southwest Agricultural Conference. Slated for January 6th and 7th, 2015, at Ridgetown, Ontario, SWAC, as it’s affectionately known, is sure to sell out — and for good reason. This year’s agenda is packed… Read More
From water barrel races to full-contact jousting, Canadian Western Agribition is boasting all kinds of new events this year. Included in that line-up is the thinkAg Career and Education Expo, which launched November 26, 2014. “The agriculture industry offers challenging and exciting careers in a number of different fields,” said Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz…. Read More
The Ontario government’s plans to reduce the use of neonicotinoid seed treatments, the passage of the Bill C-18 (the Agricultural Growth Act) in the House of Commons and actual full-contact jousting at Canada’s largest livestock show — Lyndsey Smith and Debra Murphy join Kelvin Heppner on TWORA for November 27th, 2014: Related: Grown-Up Bullying Alive… Read More
If you’ve noticed soil getting a whole lot more attention lately, it’s for good reason. Not only are scientists beginning to unlock many of the mysteries of what lies beneath, but agriculture has also started to wake up to the importance and potential of soil management on yield. Farmers have always known that soil is… Read More
Representatives from across Canada’s grain sector are in Ottawa today for the launch of the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Crops. The group will serve as a forum for “advancing, reporting on and communicating the sustainability of Canadian grain production.” “Increasingly, our customers are factoring in environmental and social considerations when sourcing products,” said Chantelle Donahue,… Read More
Yesterday, the Ontario premier’s office and the ministry of the environment and climate change revealed its plan to restrict the use of neonicotinoid seed treatments. The goal, referred to as “aspirational,” is to reduce the number of Ontario corn and soybean acres planted with the seed treatment by 80% by the year 2017. The details… Read More
Need an excuse to take a trip to a warmer place this winter? Can it be justified as a field trip for the farm? Cold temperatures might be a good enough reason to head south, and maybe it’s easy for him to say because he’s newly retired, but the former CEO of the Canadian International Grains… Read More
Canada’s two major railways have changed they way they process requests for grain cars in Western Canada. To deter shippers from ordering more cars than they can handle, both Canadian National and Canadian Pacific are capping the number of outstanding orders a grain shipper can have in their systems. As of September 14th, the total… Read More
Western Canadian farmers know all too well what kind of impact the logistical challenges of the last year had on local grain prices, but how did the rail backlog impact international customers? How concerned are they about the reliability of Canadian grain shipments? To get a feel for what overseas buyers are saying, I spoke… Read More