In terms of export markets, China has been the holy grail for agricultural commodity producers. Whether it’s pork, beef, canola or wheat, the demand that China’s growing middle class offers presents massive opportunities for Canadian farmers. Likewise in the U.S., farmers south of the border have relied heavily on export growth into China as domestic… Read More
By Dr. Sylvain Charlebois With the SNC Lavalin debacle and the subsequent resignation of Liberal politicians, here’s the score so far: two cabinet ministers, one MP, two senior bureaucrats, including the Clerk of the Privy Council Office, and it’s probably not over. The SNC Lavalin case refuses to go away and has been garnering global media… Read More
On Tuesday morning while in Winnipeg, Prime Minister Trudeau stated that “we are looking at the possibility of sending a high level delegation to China.” The Prime Minister is facing stiff criticism from western Canadian farmers for the lack of apparent action and response on the canola matter. This critique will only heighten with the… Read More
Grain markets worked through the third week of March with weather headlines drowning most of the Chinese trade issues in the U.S., but it was the opposite in Canada. In outside markets, global stocks and bond yields fell on Friday as fresh data points have amplified some thinking about a weakening world economy. On Thursday,… Read More
By Cam Dahl I was on a speaker’s panel a few weeks back with a farmer who said he never wanted to hear the word sustainability again. I understand the sentiment but we, as an industry, are going to be hearing that word more and more from customers and consumers around the world. Farmers shy… Read More
The Canadian government needs to start being honest with itself and farmers. Talking a tougher game would be a great start. China has hijacked the Canadian canola industry. Until someone proves to me otherwise I will continue to say that China’s cancellation of a major grain company’s export license is political. Pretending that this is… Read More
Some risks are out of our control, and as we know all too well, weather is a big one in the agricultural industry. However, there are some risks that are actually in our control. Consider the risks that Boeing has dealt with this week. With the crash of the Boeing 737 Max in Ethiopia, Boeing… Read More
It’s an unfortunate reality for many farmers — the very frightening possibility of activists targeting them on their private property, where their homes are, where they care for their livestock and raise their children. Last weekend, Ontario dairy farmers were left shaken when activists trespassed on private property, entered barns without permission, and reportedly, even… Read More
Remember when Goose dies in Top Gun? Of course you do. Maverick and Goose were following Iceman as his wingman and got caught in the jet wash, ultimately spinning out to sea and then ejecting from the aircraft but meeting an untimely end. To bring the analogy home, Canada is closely following the U.S., in… Read More
There are a lot of anxious canola farmers in Canada at the moment – and with good reason. One of the most important export markets for Canadian canola has suspended imports from one of Canada’s largest and most storied grain companies, Richardson International. The most common feeling seems to be that it is just politics… Read More
Grain markets were served up a monthly WASDE report on Friday, March 8th, but the numbers didn’t bring any new bullish feelings to the table. Most of the numbers that the USDA produced were either pretty close to their February WASDE number, or the pre-report estimate (which, as you can tell for yourself below, were… Read More
Richardson International announced in 2018 it had made the decision to withdraw its funding and membership from the Canola Council of Canada. At the time, the withdrawal was not without controversy, and ultimately played a major role in the Canola Council of Canada making some structural changes in late 2018. With this week’s decision by… Read More
Canadians are very much wrapped up in the testimony of Jody Wilson-Raybould and Gerald Butts on the SNC-Lavalin scandal. When your house is amid chaos and controversy it can be very difficult for a government to get their work done. For farmers and ranchers in Canada there is a very important piece of business to… Read More
With the nonsense and negativity on the internet lately (don’t even get me started on the Momo challenge), I felt the need to give a nod to whomever created one of the latest Facebook challenges I’m seeing flood my feed. You may have seen it; it’s being dubbed “the 10-day farming family challenge.” This challenge,… Read More
It has been a tumultuous 48 hours for the Canadian canola industry. After news broke that China had pulled Richardson International’s approval to ship into the country, we learn today via Reuters that now China is claiming that they discovered “hazardous pests” in shipments from Richardsons. If we can all agree that this finding” is… Read More