We have covered the issue of market volatility often on RealAgriculture.com. Even with the knowledge that volatility is a new-normal, some farmers still try and aggressively sell at the top of the market to derive the highest returns possible. At the Southwest Agricultural Conference in Ridgetown, I spoke with Victor Aideyan, HISGRAIN Commodities Inc. about… Read More
Category: Eastern Canada
Last year in Ontario the weather provided an almost perfect spring and summer season. I heard many Ontario corn farmers say that, “this is the earliest that I have ever seeded corn.” Many wondered at the time what would be the results and if the crop would get hammered by a spring frost. Early seeding… Read More
The storage of your crop is one of the most important steps in the cropping cycle but it is one that is quite often mismanaged and not properly executed. Every farmer has a part of a bin before no matter good of a farmer you are. At the Southwest Agricultural conference Helmut Spieser, OMAFRA talked… Read More
Is there anything more exciting than a new USDA report? With the increased interest in commodities USDA reports have become like the new gambling lines coming out for Superbowl weekend. The hype is high and everyone has an angle that they play. The markets moved huge today as a result of the report from the… Read More
At the Sask Canola meeting this morning Gerry Ritz gave an announcement on some new funding. I attended the scrum with the rest of the ag media and just caught the end of the discussion where he addressed free trade with the European Union and the long term benefits for farmers. Mr. Ritz also commented… Read More
Spring is a very hectic time for farmers. As farmers know there are time on seed restrictions for inoculants. We have all been through the scenario of applying inoculants to your soybeans in the morning and by the afternoon it is pouring rain. As you can imagine this can be very stressful when you use… Read More
By Dick Haney I just finished watching the wild card NFL game between the defending Champion New Orleans Saints and the Seattle Seahawks. The game was played in Seattle and the Seahawks were 11-point underdogs. In short, they just weren’t supposed to win, but they did. The turning point of the game was in the… Read More
Can you imagine 300 bushel corn? I asked an industry person this question this week and he said, “I didn’t think that 200 bushel corn was possible.” After being at the South West Ag conference this week, it might surprise you that all the discussed yield increase is not just in genetic advancements. Several different… Read More
Food has become pretty trendy. We have now have two Food Networks on cable and the growth of Farmers Markets has been strong in North America. One of the most misinterpreted terms is “Local Food.” What is local food? Seems like a pretty simple question. You would think that such a simple term would never… Read More
Have you ever heard the saying that information is power? Having information at your fingertips when you ned to make very important business decisions is critical to the success of your farm or ag-business. With the increase in crop protection product skews and the introduction of generics into the marketplace, it is more challenging than… Read More
By Shaun Haney This past weekend my wife and I tried to return a couple christmas presents that were faulty. One was a video game system and the other was a bluetooth headset. When we went to both stores we received the same strange instructions from the customer service desks of the stores. If you… Read More
By Dick Haney As we started out the New Year, there were at least in my family the obligatory college football games to be viewed on January 1st. These games are part sport, part pageant and in many instances the most visual expression of loyalty that we will probably see all year. The stands are… Read More
Agricultural commodities had a great run in 2010. One has to wonder though if there is any opportunity for things to reverse downward just like it did two years ago as we hit July. Some people like Ron Frost believe that we may have reached a new price plateau. Other market analysts like Moe Agostino… Read More
When you turn on the TV or your computer, it is quite common place to hear or read about the new price reality for commodities. Many of you that have been in this farming game for a long time have heard these kind of comments before. Many people and organizations are wondering if this price… Read More
Do you remember when the Canadian Dollar was sixty cents? Remember when the Canadian Dollar was not volatile and was jokingly called the Canadian Peso. Those were seemingly easier days for many of us that are involved in export or import businesses with the United States. With the Canadian Dollar holding near par and oil… Read More