As we drift into a new year, an opportunity presents itself to refocus and take a fresh look at the issues at hand. Some people make New Year’s resolutions, some think about changes, and others take advantage of the fresh calendar to implement real change to benefit stakeholders and their own position. This restart with… Read More
Category: Opinion
I’ve been hearing a lot about sustainability lately. It’s been showing up in headlines more and more, and it has almost become one of those buzzwords that everyone uses: “Our farm is sustainable.” But what does that really mean? A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to speak at the Canadian Young Speakers… Read More
The federal-provincial-territorial (FPT) meeting concluded last week with a press conference hosted by Ontario’s Ag Minister, Ernie Hardeman, and the federal minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Marie Claude Bibeau. At the meeting, Bibeau presented the federal government’s offer to fund changes to AgriStability — but, according to the provinces, it was the first time they’d… Read More
Grain markets moved into the second half of November largely in the green, thanks to USDA sharing some bullish data in their November WASDE report. Soybean and canola prices continue to reach new multi-year highs as export demand remains strong, stocks continue to tighten, and weather concerns remain for the South American crop. Wheat prices… Read More
There has been no shortage of topics and tweets to discuss regarding the Canada-U.S. relationship and trade across the border over the last four years, as President Donald Trump sought to shake up the status quo to the United States’ advantage. This included applying tariffs to Canadian exports in the name of national security, and… Read More
Grain markets were able to find some fresh gains for the first week of November, one which was very much overshadowed by the U.S. election. While Friday saw some selling in the grain markets, it was a still a relative positive week, but it was one that history will likely remember for the controversial words… Read More
Tuesday was quite the day trying to cover what was going on with the U.S. election. I have always been a lover of politics, but I find that my interest in the history and current moment are a bit of a passion. The current election is chock full of storylines playing out in front of… Read More
Grain markets finished the last week of October in the red, but the pull-back this past week was not enough to keep the complex from having a positive monthly performance for front-month futures contracts. To finish off the month of October, a lot of trading activity circled around a few key factors: La Nina/dryness issues,… Read More
Grain markets continued their march higher again this past week, as weather concerns, strong demand, and speculative buying continue to support the bulls. Wheat prices have been on a tear, with Chicago SRW values continuing to sit at 6-year highs on La Nina concerns. Meanwhile continued healthy Chinese demand for American corn and soybeans supported… Read More
Most of us learned early that you need to keep your promises if you want to be trusted. In politics, however, promises are rarely kept; instead, they’re wiggled out of, often after an election, giving politicians a terrible reputation in the trust department. In the last several years, supply management has not prevented Canada negotiating… Read More
Grain markets had another positive week of momentum on dry weather concerns and continued strong export numbers, albeit traders took profits on Friday, limiting the weekly gains. Corn closed above $4 USD/bushel on the Chicago futures board for the first time since August 2019 as exports (both sales and shipments) to China continue to grow…. Read More
This week marks 50 years since Canada, with a prime minister holding the surname Trudeau, formally recognized the government of the People’s Republic of China. Normally, golden anniversaries are cause for great celebration, but the world is not normal right now. Or at least it’s not in a state we want to believe is normal…. Read More
Statistics Canada’s recent September job market data is reassuring. Overall, employment in the country increased in September, creating 378,000 jobs, the majority of which were full-time jobs. This increase in September brought our total employment to 720,000, shy of the level we had before the pandemic. Obviously, children being back to school has helped bring some… Read More
Grain markets headed into the October long weekend on a high note after the USDA published a fairly bullish October WASDE report on Friday, October 9th, 2020. In it, the UDSA dramatically lowered soybean ending stocks, which helped propel the oilseed complex higher, including canola and soybean futures getting back up to levels not seen… Read More
Grain markets flipped the calendar this week on not only a new month, but also a new quarter, and there was plenty to digest. It really started in Tuesday’s wild U.S. Presidential debate, then was followed by Wednesday’s quarterly stocks and annual small grains production report from the USDA, and then finally, the news early… Read More