Drought this year has been a leading news item for several months. A run-up in cattle sales seem to be uncharacteristically large in volume for the time of year, but are there factors other than drought that are driving producers to forward sell? “The drought really forced the issue this year and I think that… Read More
Starting this week’s episode of the Beef Market Update with Anne Wasko of the Gateway Livestock Exchange, is some positivity when it comes to trading fat cattle in both the U.S. and Western Canada. In the southern U.S., the fats are trading around the $122 mark, with the northern states around the $126-$128 mark, says… Read More
There’s never a dull moment in the fertilizer market and it’s hard not to wonder what will be in store for producers for the 2022 crop year. Josh Linville, director of fertilizer at StoneX, recently joined Shaun Haney on RealAg Radio to discuss the fertilizer markets, including what’s happening with tariffs. During Linville’s last conversation… Read More
The most recent estimates of the U.S. corn and soybean crops are in, and the numbers are slightly lower than anticipated. Significant drought in a large area of the U.S. is dragging down the United States Department of Agriculture’s projected average corn yield, now pegged at 174.6 bu/ac down from 179.5 bu/ac a month ago…. Read More
It’s been the story for weeks, but unfortunately, still a big one — there are large parts of the country that are facing drought, and it is severely impacting the beef industry. Seeing as this is the Beef Market Update, it wouldn’t be natural if we didn’t talk the price side of all of this… Read More
Both of Canada’s major railways say they moved a record amount of grain during the 2020-21 crop year, which wrapped up on July 31. CN Rail says it moved just over 31 million metric tonnes of Canadian grain and grain products in hopper cars, exceeding its previous record of 29.4 million tonnes set in the… Read More
There’s a lot of ground to cover in this week’s Beef Market Update, including price activity, cut-out value, demand, cash prices, and more. Anne Wasko of Gateway Livestock Exchange joins host Shaun Haney to break down all these topics. In the U.S., prices are still doing a see-saw action and the market’s held on remarkably… Read More
Summer is generally a time when the pulse markets go through a bit of a lull, but it’s always good to know what might happen in the markets come harvest. Chuck Penner of LeftField Commodity Research says that both farmers and buyers are sitting on the sidelines at this time of year, especially with widespread… Read More
The Alberta government is partnering with the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, Alberta Beef Producers, and Alberta Cattle Feeders’ Association to undertake a competitiveness study that will provide strategic insights and data for the beef cattle industry. Announced July 14, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Devin Dreeshen says that collaborating with industry is vital to growing and… Read More
Update, as of July 14: Both CN and CP once again halted traffic in the area around Lytton, B.C. on Wednesday due to new fires east of the community. “For the safety of our crews, we are not currently running trains between Kamloops and Lytton, B.C.,” says CN in a network update distributed July 14…. Read More
The USDA projected tighter-than-expected wheat supplies for the 2021-22 crop year in its July World Agricultural Supply/Demand Estimates (WASDE) report released on Monday. Most of the other key figures in the report for the big three crops — corn, soy, and wheat — were in line with expectations, with yield projections left unchanged from June…. Read More
The federal transport minister has issued an order requiring Canada’s two main railways — Canadian National and Canadian Pacific — to implement a set of measures aimed at preventing further wildfires in southern B.C. and other parts of the country where fire risk is high. Minister Omar Alghabra issued the ministerial order on Sunday, following… Read More
If you’ve been following the cattle markets, you’ll know that this week the Alberta fed cattle market lost some ground. This kind of behaviour is not exceptionally strange for a July cattle market, says Anne Wasko of the Gateway Livestock Exchange in the latest episode of the Beef Market Update. However, the market lost another… Read More
Statistics Canada released its updated acreage estimates for 2021 on Tuesday morning, most of which were in line with expectations. Most notably, StatsCan boosted its canola acreage estimate to 22.48 million acres, up from 21.53 million in its April acreage report. Year-over-year, that’s an 8.2 per cent increase in canola acres, largely driven by strong… Read More
A recent U.S. federal reserve meeting resulted in an indication that attention to interest rate movement will be sped up in the future. “There’s been a few mixed messages, actually, out of the press conferences that followed that statement of the federal reserve,” says JP Gervais, chief economist at Farm Credit Canada. Gervais says it… Read More