A Swedish company is bringing its mechanical and selective weed cutter to North America with a promise of giving farmers another method for fighting weeds. The CombCut is designed to comb through the leaves of a cereal crop, bending over flexible crop stems, cutting stiffer broadleaf weeds with its static knife. “You comb through your cereals… Read More

China’s largest state-owned food and feed company appears to be establishing a presence in Western Canada’s grain industry. According to listings on the company’s LinkedIn page, COFCO Agri is hiring three grain traders and an operations manager “for a newly-formed Winnipeg, Manitoba office,” as Rod Nickel of Reuters first reported on Friday. The traders will be… Read More

The grains complex pushed up to new highs this week due to two factors: money flow and South America. Here in North America, the percentage of fields planted is well ahead of its 5-year average. This week, soybeans came within a sliver of touching $11/bushel, wheat was pushed up due to quality concerns in the Southern Plains, while corn… Read More

Will tiny tractors solve our compaction issues? Are you re-thinking your typical tillage plans? In this week’s Word, Peter Johnson, resident agronomist for RealAgriculture, covers everything from tillage to herbicide and compaction to crop insurance. Skip to Podcast Have a question for Wheat Pete? Call 1-888-746-3311, send him a tweet (@wheatpete), or email him at [email protected]. Last Week’s Word:… Read More

Grains shot out of the cannon this week as heavy trading volumes propelled markets to new multi-month highs. Soybeans led the charge, thanks to concerns over the size of the Argentinian harvest. With soybean markets rallying well above the $10/bushel handle, profits were taken and the complex settled below the coveted double-digit level before weekend… Read More

Syngenta has announced plans to bring the first three-mode-of-action foliar fungicide to farmers in Eastern Canada this spring. Trivapro features three active ingredients, including one new active — azoxystrobin (Quadris – Group 11), propiconazole (Tilt – Group 3), and benzovindiflupyr (Group 7 SDHI), known as Solatenol. Solatenol was approved for use on corn, soybeans and… Read More

Regulatory restrictions are not on the radar in Manitoba, but the province’s agriculture entomologist suggests farmers in Western Canada should ask themselves “why?” before using neonicotinoid seed treatments. The Ontario and Quebec governments are restricting the use of insecticide-treated seed in response to concerns about neonics hurting bee health, but there haven’t been the same problems with pollinator populations… Read More

Wheat and barley grower organizations from across Western Canada are trying to figure out how to move forward with farmer involvement in variety development. The transitional Western Canadian wheat and barley check-offs implemented by the federal government with the end of the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly in 2012 are set to expire in 2017. The majority… Read More

The grains market continued to trade through the U.S. Thanksgiving week a bit quieter (par for the course) against a stronger U.S. dollar, but ended the week a bit higher thanks to some decent U.S. export sales for corn and soybeans. All things being equal, global trade continues to be encouraged by low ocean freight… Read More

When it comes to long term weather outlooks, water temperatures in the Pacific Ocean are often used to predict what’s to come. For grain markets weighed down by large global supplies, the main Pacific indicators are showing no sign of an imminent weather issue reducing grain production, says a meteorologist who spoke at the Cereals North America market outlook conference… Read More

The grain market this past week turned its attention to more demand and weather headlines as North American harvest pressures are starting to subside with the large majority of the crop now in the bin. The planting pace down in Brazil of soybeans continues to accelerate, with some of the previously drier regions finally getting… Read More

Grains this week were mixed as the market was chasing weather, export trade data, and harvest headlines. We ended the trading quarter this week, and oats was the biggest loser, dropping 15% over the course of it, followed by Chicago wheat (-12.8%), soybeans (-12.1%), canola (-10.6%), and corn (-10.5%). From a currency perspective, the Canadian… Read More

 

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