Within hours of Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, introducing the 2023-24 federal budget, comments in support of or criticism against the government’s proposed budget began to roll in. Livestock groups, including the Canadian Cattle Association and Dairy Farmers of Canada, are welcoming the government’s commitment to establishing a Foot-and-Mouth (FMD) disease… Read More
Category: Logistics
The winter of 2013-14 stands out in the minds of many who were involved in growing and marketing grain in Western Canada as the year of the massive grain backlog, as railways struggled to meet demand for moving crops from country elevators to export markets. With no access to water, like the St. Lawrence or… Read More
The U.S. Surface Transportation Board has issued its long-awaited decision on the merger of Canadian Pacific Railway and Kansas City Southern, authorizing the combination of the two railways to form the first railway connecting Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. The 212-page decision includes many conditions, but will allow CP to take control of KCS, forming… Read More
The problem with war is that there’s no way to know, really, what is going to happen. Jacob Shapiro, geopolitical analyst with Cognitive Investments, calls this the “fog of war,” and it creates uncertainty, volatility, and quick shifts in direction that are difficult to plan for. In the podcast and video below, RealAg Radio host… Read More
Cattle coming north, a tax credit for processing development, and trucking e-logs are all top of mind for Alberta’s Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, Nate Horner. Speaking at this week’s Alberta Beef Industry Conference, Horner says the announced Agri-Processing Investment Tax Credit won’t be in place until the current government passes its budget, but the credit… Read More
Looking at current grain prices, it might seem markets remain largely unchanged by the impacts of an entire year of Russia’s war on Ukraine. But the truth is, says Arlan Suderman, at StoneX, is that global markets have been “dynamically changed” in a great way that impacts all commodities. “First of all, we had become… Read More
Four thousand bushels of portable grain storage is not something you see everyday on the farm or at the National Farm Machinery Show at Louisville, Kentucky. But when Walkabout Mother Bins made their first-ever appearance last week at the annual machinery showcase, many farmers couldn’t resist the opportunity to get a close-up look at the… Read More
There’s no doubt that conversations have been buzzing in both the Canada and the U.S. when it comes to challenges and issues around electronic trucking logs. Electronic log book laws have been put in place, effective January 1, 2023, in effort to increase safety on the roads, which of course is the number one priority,… Read More
Farmers and agronomists across Western Canada are understandably concerned about insecticide options for pest control in 2023. Following the late November announcement of lambda-cy-containing products Silencer and Matador being pulled from retail locations, many are wondering if the remaining available products will be in short supply for the year. One of the alternative options for… Read More
The Canadian Transportation Agency has issued its ruling on how CN and CP Rail’s profits from transporting Western Canadian grain compared with their regulated maximum grain revenue entitlements for the 2021-2022 crop year. CN’s grain revenue last crop year was reported at $592,208,589 — $3,068,088 above its maximum entitlement, while CP’s grain revenue was $515,508,638… Read More
The full brunt of the 35 per cent tariff on Russian-sourced nitrogen in 2022 didn’t just equal millions of dollars paid by Canadian farmers, it also put a spotlight on the challenges of some global trade flows. Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) commissioned StoneX to explore the issue, and author of “Farmers Need Fertilizer,” Josh… Read More
Several American railroad worker unions are holding firm on contract demands, increasing the likelihood of a strike some time in early December. While an official strike date of December 9 has been reported, the American Association of Railroads says that logistic adjustments and slow downs would begin as much as a week prior, as some… Read More
Not to be left out, CP Rail says it also set a new all-time monthly tonnage record for shipping grain in October. Shortly after CN Rail announced on Nov. 2 that October was its best ever month of grain shipping, CP said it also set a new monthly record for grain movement. CP said it… Read More
Wheat and corn prices for the near and medium term are all about supply. The trouble is, there is plenty of wheat in Russia, but there are few countries who want to be seen buying Russian wheat. What’s more, the uneasy trade corridor accord between Ukraine, Turkey, and Russia is providing very little assurance to… Read More
CN Rail says October was its best single month ever for grain movement in Western Canada. The company says it moved over 3.23 million metric tonnes from the Prairies, exceeding the previous record set in October 2020 by 50 thousand metric tonnes. “Really from the end of September through the third week of October, we’ve… Read More