In a perfect world, you’d price grain several times a year, locking in a percentage of production at a profit, as determined by a complete cost of production figure. But farming isn’t perfect, and only the truly disciplined (and lovers of all things marketing) have annual pricing plans and stick with them. In reality, bills… Read More
As growers look ahead to seeding, it seems every single cropping option has pricing issues, but there also opportunities to look for. Supply has been a challenge for wheat and corn while soybeans and canola have benefited from strong demand that has assisted in creeping acres higher. READ: 7 Deadly Sins of Grain Marketing Shaun… Read More
Canadian farmers have found some additional acres to seed this year, according to the Statistics Canada planting intentions report published on Friday. The agency’s projections for the three largest acreage crops — wheat, canola and soybeans — were all higher than analysts were expecting. Adding up the individual crop and summer fallow categories, the total acres described… Read More
Soybeans will be on the verge of matching corn acres in the U.S. this year, according to the USDA’s Prospective Plantings report published Friday. Higher soybean acres has been the consensus in the market for some time, but the department’s soybean acreage estimate of 89.5 million was still well above the average pre-report guess of… Read More
Pope Gregory I probably didn’t foresee his list being used as guidance for grain farmers managing market risk when he defined what became known as the seven cardinal sins in 590 AD. But whether we’re talking morality or grain marketing, these behaviours and habits can be costly. Brian Voth, president of IntelliFarm Inc., presented the “seven… Read More
Farmers in much of Ontario are celebrating rain, while combines are parked or stuck due to too much rain in parts of the west. We take a look at how Chinese politics are hurting canola prices, the future of beef research in Canada, and much more on this week’s TWORA podcast, featuring Peter Johnson, Brian… Read More
2015-16 was a record year for Canadian canola demand. Export and domestic consumption surpassed the 19 million tonne mark, according to crop year-end numbers from the Canadian Grain Commission — a 16.6 percent jump from 2014-15. “The fact that’s versus 16.3 million tonnes last year. That’s almost mind-boggling,” says Brian Voth of Prairie Farm Consulting…. Read More
They’re not splashing in the green pool or swinging from the parallel bars in Rio, but like their athletic compatriots, American farmers are breaking records. That’s if you believe the latest numbers from the US Department of Agriculture. The USDA issued its monthly supply/demand report on Friday. Here are some of the upsets/highlights: A 7.1 bushels/acre… Read More
Coming off record global production last year, world wheat supplies are massive. And yet, growing year-over-year ending stocks have not translated into a major decline in cash wheat bids for Canadian farmers. That’s mainly due to two related factors: the weak Canadian dollar and tightening Canadian supplies — a function of the weak dollar driving exports and farmers producing less… Read More
Canola supplies will likely be tight leading up to harvest this fall, and could be even tighter in 2017 based on StatsCan estimates, average yields and demand trends. “The market is definitely telling us supplies are not going to be as abundant as what we’ve had over the last few years, and I would say it… Read More
Haven’t we seen this before? Traders and analysts were expecting Statistics Canada to peg the 2015 canola crop at around 15.6 million tonnes in the agency’s latest production report released Friday morning. Pre-report guesses ranged between 14.5 and 16.4 million. Most farmers reported better than expected canola yields at harvest, so everybody was expecting the… Read More
Wheat futures have dropped sharply this week after spiking earlier this month, as the rising U.S. dollar is once again weighing on American commodities. The currency effect is also being noticed in the oilseed complex, as Canadian canola futures have climbed while soybean values in Chicago have fallen over the last few weeks. Get the latest prices on the Commodity Futures… Read More
Traders and analysts were taken aback by some of the key numbers in the crop production report from Statistics Canada released on Thursday morning. While the market was expecting a higher canola production estimate, it was not anticipating the major increase from the StatsCan estimate of 14.1 million metric tonnes in October to 15.6 million in… Read More
Keeping with the bearish trend in the grain markets, the USDA reported higher than expected corn and soybean yields and production in its monthly supply/demand report released on Thursday morning. The average U.S. corn yield was pegged at a record 171.7 bushels per acre, with total production of 14.4 billion bushels. For soybeans, the average yield for… Read More
A three-year deal still needs to be ratified by workers, but Canadian National (CN) railway reports today that a tentative deal has been struck with the Teamsters union and a rail strike has been averted. The threatened strike would have crippled an already severely taxed logistics system trying to move the huge 2013 crop. As… Read More