Grain markets marched through the middle of February with most of the focus on three things: trade war negotiations between China and the U.S.; the potential for another U.S. government shutdown (and thus, no grain trade data again); and, continued digestion of the February WASDE report published by the USDA last week. All things considered,… Read More
Canadians are set to celebrate Canada’s Agriculture Day February 12, with gatherings, conferences, celebrations, and sharing what’s happening on the farm. The day is all part of the “share our story” philosophy — that agriculture’s customers have simply lost touch with how food is grown and produced, and that if farmers share more, they’ll earn back… Read More
Why do U.S. farmers support President Donald Trump so much? It’s the most common question I get from the audience following a keynote. At one time, I thought the answer would evolve along with his support based on trade and ethanol policies. I was wrong, and I am totally willing to admit it. Previously, just… Read More
Grain markets marched into the month of February without much fanfare, as wheat prices were the only thing to make positive gains since last Friday. Unfortunately, for Canadian readers, some of these gains were offset in the cash market by the fact the Canadian loonie gained nearly a full point (1% or 100 basis points)… Read More
By Jeff English Canada’s Food Guide was updated this week and, not unlike anything done by government, it was met with a mixed reaction. The changes were not so big. We’ve gone from four food groups down to three. Given the year they’ve had on the trade front, it is easy to forgive our dairy… Read More
Grain markets performed well on Friday, January 18th, to help them recover some losses from earlier in the week. Oats, corn, soybeans, and canola all made positive gains compared to the previous Friday, while wheat prices ultimately closed 0.5% lower for the week, despite gaining a few cents this Friday. Ultimately, grain prices continue to… Read More
It’s not often that we here at RealAgriculture have a chance to spend some quality time one-on-one with mainstream media pundits. But at the Western Canadian Crop Production Show this week, news lead Jessika Guse managed to wrangle radio host John Gormley to sit down with RealAg Radio host Shaun Haney to talk provincial politics,… Read More
With U.S. shipments of agricultural commodities slowly beginning to resume after a lengthy hiatus due to the a trade war with China, farmers are relying on U.S. President Donald Trump’s negotiating skills to close a deal with China. That’s no small feat as, the deal includes not only a resumption, but also an increase in… Read More
Grain markets are mixed as we start the first full week of the 2019 calendar year of trading with trade negotiations between the U.S. and China wrapping up, all while the U.S. government shutdown remains. This meant there was no WASDE report released on Friday — the day it was supposed to be . In… Read More
Through life you’ll have ups and downs. In my eyes, one thing is for certain — if you have a pet (a dog, preferably), the good days will always out-number the bad. Those “bad days” can be something as simple as not getting what you wanted to accomplish complete, or might be much more complex, like family… Read More
Happy New Year! I hope you find this first post of 2019, rested, yet filled with memories from the holiday season. For some of you, including yours truly, might be weighing in a little heavier after some big family meals — one could say that this always happens. That repeatability continues on to the New Year’s… Read More
Have you heard about veganuary? It’s January, but where you give up eating meat and other animal-based food and home products. The latest celebrities to jump on this bandwagon are Beyoncé and Jay-Z (in case that matters to you), and given that it’s “new year, new you” season, I’m sure there will be many, many… Read More
As we head into the last full week of the 2018 calendar year, grain markets held a bit of a weaker tone. This past week, no crops on the futures boards were able to make any positive gains despite some positive export activity being noted by the USDA, especially from China! Put another way, grain… Read More
For the whole month of December I started noticing lists online on what you should buy for every person in your life this Christmas — who am I kidding… I started seeing these posts in November. Anyways, it was everything from the what to buy for the “dad who has everything” to the “introvert” to… Read More
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