When I was at CropWeek last January lentils were all the rage for farmers. With high prices and increasing acres many people, including myself thought the best thing to do was to forward sell 2010 crop at low 20’s to protect against a bearish market. Throw in a poor spring, a wet harvest and resulting… Read More
The question of how bullish is corn is really all the talk right now in coffee shops across the US and Canada. Producers and the industry are focused on this crop staple and what it is going to do through the winter. Will we see $6.00 corn shortly or is this just a short blip… Read More
This is appearing to be a difficult year to try and execute on a marketing plan that you can have conviction in. Between the late crop, uncertain yields, carry out numbers being questionable and fluctuating basis levels, farmers are really having their marketing plans tested. Even the most experienced analysts are questioning what is the… Read More
When planning for the upcoming planting in the fall, farmers need to look back and see what went good and what were the areas where they could of improved. In looking back on the Ontario 2010 wheat crop there were several things that a you could take and implement for the 2011 season. In this… Read More
Just when you think the wheat market is stable and that the supply and demand equation is fully priced in the market……BOOM!!!!!! Russia and some neighbouring countries decide to have a drought and WALLA!!!……The market have decided to go 2007 on us again. Who can stomach this volatility and craziness? Is this real or just… Read More
In the Canadian Wheat Board’s effort to provide more options to the Western Canadian farmer the FlexPro contract is back again. The deadline for signing up for the program is the end of the month. I talked to Jonathan Driedger, FarmLink Marketing Solutions on the advantages and disadvantages of the program and whether or not… Read More
During this past winter there was no bigger story in Western Canada than the hysteria around lentils. Saskatchewan is the lentil king in Canada and has also received an abundance of wet weather since early April. The lentil market is known to swing in big ways up and down but seems to be holding relatively… Read More
Globally, the barley crop is in flux. For farmers that grow malt barley and feed barley, 2010 does not look like a great year to be growing and marketing barley. Many growers feel the malt premiums are not high enough and the feeding sector is increasing DDG incorporation. In areas like Southern Alberta silage pits… Read More
The weather in the US in the first two months of the year has led to some higher fat cattle prices. This has initiated a little optimism for the fat cattle board in 2010. What is unclear is whether or not this momentum will continue or die off like the Beta tape. One thing that… Read More
The supply demand report was released this week in the United States. The result has been a new found bullish feeling in regards to the corn market. It seems that the volatility in the corn market is going to continue in 2010 based on some of the comments I am hearing from different analysts. with… Read More
The following is the official press release from AFSC on the Cattle Price Insurance Program CPIP. This truly is a revolutionary program that will allow Albertan cattle feeders to hedge some risk. I have not fully investigated the nuts and bolts of the program but I think on the surface it is a great step… Read More
On Monday afternoon I had the opportunity to sit down with Jon Driedger, a market analyst with FarmLink Marketing Solutions in Winnipeg. A day before the Canadian StatsCan acreage Report was released, Jon provided great insight into the dynamics facing the grains, oilseeds and pulse markets this summer and fall in North America. A special… 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