Quick negotiations and a tentative agreement earlier this week between CN Rail and the union representing some of its employees was good news earlier for Canada’s supply chain, as it meant avoiding a threatened strike. Upon hearing of the potential for 3,000 workers to strike, Saskatchewan’s Premier Brad Wall wrote Minister of Transport Lisa Raitt,… Read More
Category: Logistics
First, an apology. Eagle-eyed RealAgriculture readers will note that this column was absent last week. After three days at FarmTech ’14 there was more than enough to share, but no time to do it, so I’ll work some of last week into this, if you don’t mind. It’s no secret I like trains. Furthermore, I… Read More
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz announced today that the government will take action on recommendations from the Crop Logistics Working Group (CLWG), in an effort to increase the competitiveness of the grain supply chain. Immediate actions include both pursuing improvements in reporting frequency through the Grain Monitoring Program and providing an ongoing forum for representatives to… Read More
If there’s one topic farmers can’t get enough of this month, it’s rail movement. Eclipsing even crop prices, logistics and rail movement was the topic of discussion from breakfast to late-night beverages at FarmTech ’14 last week. RealAgriculture’s editor, Lyndsey Smith, sat down with Gordon Bacon, CEO of Pulse Canada, to talk about the three… Read More
By Jim Hale, grain farmer, Lancer, Saskatchewan. Find him on Twitter as @FarmerJim79 and at his blog, What I know (And What I Don’t): http://cjkfarm.wordpress.com/. This post originally appeared there. After tweeting about how the grain terminal that I have my flax contracted with was having rail car logistical issue (that happen to work in… Read More
Gordon Bacon, CEO of Pulse Canada uses an airline analogy to try and paint the picture of what the western Canadian agriculture industry’s logistics could look like. “If I’m on a plane bound for Europe, and I leave Winnipeg, routing through Toronto, and something happens while I’m in the air so that it means I… Read More
An unattractive basis is meant to discourage grain sales, but what happens when farmers are willing to sell even then (cash is getting tight, y’all) but bids disappear entirely? Then you have the grain marketing mess that is early 2014. Hear more: Check out all our coverage from CropSphere 2014 Chuck Penner (@LeftFieldCR), with LeftField… Read More
This week the Canola Council of Canada released its long term objectives for 2025. The Canola Council of Canada was bold in its plans to set the clear objectives for the industry. Is 22 million acres at a yield of 52 bushels/acre producing 26 million tonnes crazy? Is it too lofty? Is it out of… Read More
Every conference season, presentation after presentation reminds farmers of the cost of too-short crop rotations. Increased disease pressure, insect infestations and nutrient depletion of soil all weigh on yields in tight rotations. Agronomic decisions like these commonly play in to the decision on what to seed next on each field, but 2014 is shaping up… Read More
Change is a funny thing — difficult for some, painfully too slow for others. But if we look at a 10-year arc of, say, the grain markets, public policy, food trends and so on, that decade of change features individual events that string together to form a direction and momentum towards real change. 2013 featured… Read More
Viterra has reached an agreement to purchase certain assets of Lethbridge Inland Terminal Ltd. (LIT), including a high throughput grain elevator with a capacity of 42,000 metric tonnes, the company has announced. The deal is subject to certain closing conditions, including regulatory approvals and the approval by LIT shareholders; LIT’s board of directors are unanimously… Read More
Farmers are understandably frustrated by slow grain movements out of the Prairies this year, as a giant crop has western ports at a stand-still. The finger is often pointed at oil tankers hogging all the railway tonne-miles as a major part of slow grain movement off the Prairies, but as with any logistical problem, the… Read More
If the NOTORIOUS B.I.G was a market analyst he would describe the current situation in Western Canada as, “Mo crop, mo problems” (was that a reach???). The 2014 Western Canadian crop is very large, on farm storage is full, railways are jammed and ports are shipping as much as they can. Get More: If you… Read More
CWB has reached an agreement to purchase all of the issued and outstanding shares of Mission Terminal, Les Élévateurs des Trois-Rivières, and Services Maritimes Laviolette from Upper Lakes Group Inc., the company states in a press release. The purchase positions CWB as the largest east-coast shipper of producer cars from Western Canada. The press release… Read More
A three-year deal still needs to be ratified by workers, but Canadian National (CN) railway reports today that a tentative deal has been struck with the Teamsters union and a rail strike has been averted. The threatened strike would have crippled an already severely taxed logistics system trying to move the huge 2013 crop. As… Read More