It’s been a long, cold, snowy winter. I get that. You get that. The railways also get that, apparently. And, on one hand, would like to tell you that the dismal service Western Canadian farmers and Canada’s agriculture industry is receiving is the weather’s fault and then, in the same breath wants to “work together”… Read More
Category: Logistics
There’s a need in the Middle East for many of the crops that Canada grows. The area is production light and demand heavy — the city of Dubai, specifically, is also a major trading and processing hub for several other markets. But getting volumes of grain to the region is challenging and expensive. Of course,… Read More
Don’t shoot the messenger, but if you haven’t priced your nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer for this year, things are about to get very ugly. Or uglier. There’s really no upside here, unless you happen to have a neighbour with livestock and a manure problem (which you might. Ask around. Don’t worry, I’ll wait here while… Read More
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
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