Statistics Canada surprised grain market analysts with higher-than-expected acreage estimates for wheat, durum, lentils and peas, and a much lower-than-expected number for canola, on Friday. Coming off a dry year in much of Western Canada in 2017, you can’t help but notice the crops that came in above expectations are crops we generally think of… Read More

The Saskatchewan Water Security Agency’s preliminary forecast for spring runoff underlines the concerns about dryness in the heart of the prairie region. Soils in southern areas were dry at freeze up with ample storage available in wetlands after a record dry summer in parts of southern Saskatchewan and below normal fall precipitation. “With dry fall… Read More

Editor’s note: This is a guest market column by Dwight Nichol, DLN AgVentures. StatsCan released their July 31st Ending Stocks report for the 2016-17 crop year on Wednesday. This was the third week with new Canadian revisions, and other than minor changes, should finalize crop year 2016-17 Supply and Demand balance. This stocks release is… Read More

As oddsmakers and fans adjust their expectations for who’s going to win the Stanley Cup, market analysts are crunching the numbers on how many acres of each crop farmers will plant this spring, with the Statistics Canada acreage report coming out on Friday. Dwight Nichol of DLN AgVentures joined RealAg Radio on Tuesday (before the Oilers’… Read More

Having turned the page on the calendar and last year’s crop, the Western Canadian Crop Production Show in Saskatoon in early January provides an opportunity each year to get a read on crop plans and sentiment heading into another growing season on the prairies. As part of our radio coverage in Saskatoon this week, we hosted a… Read More

There’s going to be a pile of low quality durum left in Western Canada that, for lack of better words, will need to disappear from the market. According to the StatsCan report out earlier this week, durum production totalled 7.8 million tonnes in 2016 — up over 40 percent versus 2015. With maybe half of it qualifying… Read More