On Wednesday, it was announced China would make its first major purchases of U.S. soybeans since the “trade war truce” made between the two countries at the end of the G20 Summit in Argentina. The purchase of over 1.5 MMT of U.S. beans, valued at more than $500 million USD supported soybean prices on Wednesday,… Read More
Except for oats futures, the entire grain complex enjoyed a week in the green as geopolitical risk and production headlines swirled. On Friday, wheat markets had a big day as market participants responded to a week of strong U.S. export sales. While total export activity is down year-over-year, it’s a positive sign for future sales…. Read More
“Patience is a virtue” – William Langland It’s been six years in the making as the Canadian canola industry waits for the approval of three canola traits for export into the Chinese market — Bayer’s TruFlex (introduced under Monsanto), Optimum Gly, owned by Corteva, and BASF’s Rf3. Whether it’s the opportunity for expanded application windows… Read More
Grain markets ended the month of November mostly in the green as optimism around of the trade war between the U.S. and China ending helped pushing the complex higher. A lot of focus to end the month was down in Argentina, where this week’s G20 Summit is taking place and many meetings between country leaders… Read More
Grain markets trekked through the middle of November fairly mixed as for the week with soybeans making strong gains, but corn and canola losing ground. Similarly, Minneapolis HRS wheat and Kansas City HRW wheat ended the week lower, but SRW wheat and oats futures in Chicago actually made some healthy gains. Most of the week… Read More
Every year, Agri-Trade marks the unofficial launch point for the next growing season. Most years, farmers have the crop in the bin, they have a good idea of their income or loss on the year, and they come to the annual show at Red Deer with a decent idea on areas of improvement for their… Read More
Grain markets ended this past week all lower as the complex took note of some larger inventories in this week’s November WASDE report, and not the smaller U.S. yields. Updates from China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) were incorporated into this month’s WASDE report. Basically, if not for China, this might be considered a bit… Read More
It might not yet be December, but when things are all said and done the story of the year in agriculture for 2018 will be the U.S./China trade war. We have seen a a tit-for-tat tariff battle, shifting of traditional export pathways, and increased subsidy programs attempting to cover market losses while longer-term repairs are in… Read More
It has been great to be back this week writing stories for RealAgriuclture.com and hosting RealAg Radio. Time away with family is such an incredibly important component of recharging before the next big run that we see in front of us. As usual this week’s “Left on the Desk” features a scattering of tidbits, slices… Read More
Grain markets this week mostly ended lower as the complex dealt with the pace of Harvest 2018 picking back up. The losses were mitigated by a mostly positive day of trading though on Friday, which helped canola and oats end the week in the green. On that note, I’ve been getting a lot of questions… Read More
Left on the Desk is back this week, bringing you content that caught my attention, but didn’t make it on to the site. This week, I was on vacation visiting family in the UK, but the world waits for no one, so let’s get ready for the info, tidbits, and scattering of information that was left… Read More
On Thursday, October 11th, the USDA released the October WASDE report, showing a smaller U.S. corn crop, but still some relatively large global supplies, notably in soybeans. Going into the report, the market was a bit bearish, expecting 2018/19 corn, soybean, and wheat carryout in both the U.S. and around the world to increase. However,… Read More
What a week in the news for Canada and around the world. It’s hard to write about everything when the news falls like a snow squall covering your desk like an early snowfall. The purpose of this column is to get through the pile of paper that was “Left on the Desk.” This week I promise… Read More
During a recent trip to Washington, D.C., Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland wore a t-shirt that read: “Keep calm and negotiate NAFTA.” To farmers looking at the result, the shirt could just as easily have read “I renegotiated NAFTA, and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.” Canada came to the table with very little… Read More
Grain markets ended the last trading week of September mostly in the red, weigh on by relatively bearish stocks report from the USDA. Oats and canola prices were the only crops that were able to end the week in the green as concerns about the Western Canadian harvest continue to mount. The gains made this… Read More