The global economic instability of the last year has no doubt rattled investors and left them looking for any kind of a stable place to invest. One of those places has been agriculture. The growing population and the need to feed them has raised the value of the agricultural industry as a whole. The bottom… Read More
Expect the unexpected is one of those phrases we’ve been trained to associate with something negative. In the reality of this global economic situation, that is understandable. Sometimes however, we get an unexpected silver lining type situation. The story surrounding our Canadian dollar and our cattle exports is one of those. A weaker dollar,(even if… Read More
The road to economic recovery in Canada is delicate. Growth has been moderate at best, with events around the world adding to that fragility daily. European countries are dealing with high deficits and attempting to balance budgets under the pressure of a frustrated and angry population. In the U.S., the debt ceiling debate, the inability… Read More
The loonie has been on a real run lately, or the U.S. dollar has been in a real slump depending on how you look at it. While the rise of our dollar may have positive implications for Canadian consumers shopping in the U.S., the impact of a strong loonie on Canadian exporters is another story…. 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
As an exporting nation, Canada has a history of relying on a low currency. Unless you have been hiding under a rock for the past four years, the Canadian dollar no longer enjoys this low value luxury. Many producers who export are very concerned about the value of the Canadian dollar and some of the… Read More
The Canadian Dollar is known as a commodity currency but as of late the European Union financial situation is playing havoc with the Canadian currency. Many feedyard and cattle ranchers are really getting stressed out by how violently the dollar has moved in the recent months. As we have mentioned before on this website, it… Read More
To say that the currency market is volatile would be quite the understatement. We have seen the USD decrease in value by 15-20% in a very short time period. The economy has been a well discussed topic in the media, in the local coffee shop and in every boardroom of corporate America. The weakness in the US dollar (USD)… Read More
In talking to Glen Hodgson of the Conference Board of Canada at the International Livestock Congress, I felt somewhat better about the economy and the outlook through the next 12 months. Glen is the Chief Economist with the Conference Board of Canada which is Canada’s largest think tank. In this video, Glen comments on the global recession,… Read More
Larry Hicks of Cattlehedging.com was one of the keynote speakers at the Tiffin Conference yesterday in Lethbridge. Larry spoke about the necessity of risk management in the beef business. Larry very clearly outlined what hedging is and that there is much more involved than calling your broker to buy or sell futures contracts. He emphasized… Read More
Risk is well known board game, played on a map of the world, in which players effectively bet (take on calculated risk) and play to take over more and more countries and ultimately rule the world. I am just musing here, but if you were taking stock of countries and their respective currencies, would it… Read More