Farmers in eastern Canada paid millions of dollars more for fertilizer beginning in early 2022 as a result of the federal tariff levied against fertilizer from Russia and Belarus, and now farmers want that money back. Finance Canada says the federal government collected approximately $34.1 million in tariff income on fertilizer imported into Canada from… Read More
Category: Markets
The current sideways lull in the grain markets has some feeling somewhat uneasy, wondering if the market bumps higher or breaks to the downside. Given the last 18 months, it feels like anything is possible. But why are the markets trading sideways? Plenty of reasons, says Scott Shellady, host of the Cow Guy Close show on… Read More
Jammed-full ports in Ontario are impacting basis and possible longer-term options for cash sales in the province, as laker traffic costs increase and tight freight access puts the squeeze on storage space along the St. Lawrence. Jeff Barlow, farmer from near Hamilton, Ont., and director with Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO), doesn’t usually ever have… Read More
As we look back on all that has happened in the agricultural commodity markets over the past three years, there’s plenty to digest. Depending on where you farm, farmers have felt regret, moments of luck, angst, and joy over decent margins during these turbulent times. The question for me is always, now what? Where do… Read More
If you’re tired of hearing words such as “unprecedented” and “new normal,” you’re not alone. That said, over time, what is average or normal or expected does change and evolve. Take commodity prices, for example. Over the very long term, the bottom level resistance for wheat futures at one time was $2/bushel. Eventually, that rose… Read More
Update, as of Nov. 9: Maple Leaf Foods says it is implementing workarounds to maintain operations at its plants while a team of cybersecurity experts continues to work on resolving the “comprehensive” outage caused by a cyberattack. CEO Michael McCain told investors in a quarterly earnings call on Nov. 8 that all the company’s plants… Read More
The past three years have been a rollercoaster ride for the grocery retail business. Back in February 2020, grocery retail was searching for ways to delight consumers and compete with food service and restaurants that were gaining an increasing share of the food wallet. But then COVID-19 changed everything — suddenly grocers were asked to… 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
We’ve discussed before how there will likely be whole research projects centred on the 2022 December corn futures contract. The contract has finally settled in to a range, but that has analysts and farmers alike wondering what it will take to crack this crop to the up — or down — side. To tackle that… Read More
There’s a lot of moving pieces going on in agriculture right now, and one of those pieces is the international crop. Just because we are talking international, doesn’t mean the crop doesn’t face one of the number one issues ours does domestically — the weather. As a function of La Niña conditions lingering, Australia has… Read More
On October 26th, the Bank of Canada announced a 50 basis point interest rate hike — marking the sixth raise of the calendar year. Brennan Turner, grain market analyst and founder of Combyne Ag, says because we’re in an environment of high inflation, we’re going to see a few more of these increases over the… Read More
The cure for high prices is high prices, but the world has to eat. Depending on which adage you subscribe to right now, the global grain markets are either bucking the trend or proving the point. Neil Townsend, senior market analyst with FarmLink Marketing Solutions and GrainFox, agrees that the current commodity price strength is… Read More
Not for the first time this year, the Canadian and U.S. cattle market are out of sync. As Anne Wasko explains in this week’s episode of the Beef Market Update, it’s becoming a bit of a frustrating topic, as she had hoped we wouldn’t still be talking about it in October. Check out the full… Read More
The U.S. Department of Agriculture released its WASDE report for October on Wednesday, and soybeans definitely received the bulk of the market reaction. Although corn and wheat yield projections were relatively in-line with analyst expectations, it was the soybean yield that made the market go…hmm. Arlan Suderman, of StoneX tweeted, “USDA pegged the #soybean yield… Read More
Viterra has officially completed its acquisition of Nebraska-based Gavilon, giving the grain company with roots in Canada a much larger footprint in the U.S. As part of the stock purchase agreement, which was announced in January and closed on October 3, Viterra is paying Japan-based Marubeni US$1.125 billion, plus working capital and other adjustments, for… Read More