In a winter where most crop markets don’t appear to be trying to buy more acres, mustard prices have been an exception. “For farmers looking for profitable opportunities, mustard is sticking out like a sore thumb right now,” says Chuck Penner of LeftField Commodity Research in the video below, filmed at CropSphere in Saskatoon earlier… Read More

When trying to explain why wheat prices are where they are, there are some concerns with dryness and protein levels affecting regional bids, but there is one dominant factor that’s underlying the entire market: Russia and its bumper crops. World wheat carryout has grown by over 20 percent in the last three years, with Russia… Read More

India’s government made no attempt to veil the reason for imposing tariffs on pulse crop imports in late 2017. “Cheap imports, if allowed unabated, are likely to adversely affect the interest of the farmers,” said a statement from the Indian government, announcing the 30 percent import duty on lentils and chickpeas in December. The tariffs on… Read More

Every year in the second week of January, we get the first peek of the year into what the industry, farmers and government are focused on in Saskatoon. This was a great week at Crop Production Show and CropSphere, as Kelvin and I covered the two events on opposite ends of a very cold city… Read More

India’s move to impose prohibitive import tariffs on peas, lentils and chickpeas has left a cloud of uncertainty hanging over the pulse market heading into the 2018 growing season. After back-to-back bumper crops domestically, India implemented a 50 percent tariff on pea imports in November, followed by a 30 percent tariff imposed on lentils and… Read More

Taking a break from peas or lentils for six years is a tall order for fields where aphanomyces has been a problem. Are there in-field options or tools for managing this relatively new disease? Syama Chatterton, pulse crops pathologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Lethbridge, has been conducting field trials across the prairies over the last two… Read More

Can we push feed and even malt barley varieties to sky-high yields? Steve Larocque, of Beyond Agronomy, has completed a four-year field trial that says yes, but there’s a catch. Inspired by what he saw on a 2010 trip to New Zealand, where feed barley averaged 207 to 210 bushels per acre, Larocque started digging… Read More

Canola seed in Canada could soon come with a label describing the variety’s blackleg disease resistance package, similar to the labeling system used in Australia. After around four years of discussions between seed companies, researchers, and growers, an agreement-in-principle has been reached on blackleg resistance labeling, says Clint Jurke, agronomy director with the Canola Council of Canada,… Read More