CNS Canada – A shutdown at Agrium’s nitrogen facility at Carseland, Alta. is threatening to slow down what was already a troubled shipping-schedule of fertilizer supplies across Western Canada. The N plant suffered a failure of its auxiliary boiler in late March. The facility isn’t expected to restart production until the second half of May. […]

Chicago | Reuters – U.S. wheat futures firmed on Thursday, supported by short-covering, concerns that a recent cold snap in key growing areas damaged some of the crop and worries that grain shipments from the Black Sea could be disrupted by political unrest in Ukraine, traders said. Wheat also received support from better-than-expected export sales […]

Western Saskatchewan farmers with shares in grain handler Prairie West Terminal are to vote next month on a $43.23 million cash bid from CWB for the 90 per cent it doesn’t yet own. CWB, the Winnipeg grain company formerly known as the Canadian Wheat Board, announced Thursday it has entered an “arrangement agreement” with PWT […]

The planting season always seems that much closer when the first meeting of extension staff with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food and local retailers and advisers is held. It provides a first glimpse of the region’s wheat crop as it comes out of dormancy, and an assessment of local field activity, including planting […]

CNS Canada – Canola futures on the ICE Futures Canada platform finished little changed during the week ended Wednesday, as buyers were reluctant to push the market higher despite large gains seen in outside oilseeds. “Nobody really wants to buy canola, but they’ll have to push it along with the soy markets if it keeps […]

Chicago | Reuters – U.S. soybean futures rallied for the third day in a row on Wednesday to reach a nine-month high, drawing strength from data released earlier in the week that showed appetite for the oilseed remained strong at domestic crushers, traders said. The strength in soy failed to carry over into the grains, […]

Winnipeg | Reuters – Canada needs to invest in shipping more grains and oilseeds off the West Coast as harvests get larger, to avoid the massive transportation backlogs that followed last year’s record crops, industry officials said on Wednesday. Last year, 19.3 million tonnes of grain moved in bulk and containers combined through Port Metro […]

Buenos Aires | Reuters — Port workers in Argentina’s Rosario grains hub will start an indefinite wage strike on Thursday, Edgardo Quiroga, head of the San Lorenzo chapter of the powerful CGT labor union, said in an interview Wednesday. With inflation estimated at more than 30 per cent, one of the world’s highest rates, Argentine […]

Farm Credit Canada’s annual charting of the ebb and flow of Canada’s farmland values saw price increases ahead of the curve in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec pushing nationwide values to their biggest year-over-year jump in recent history. The federal farm lending agency on Monday released its 2013 Farmland Values report, which tracks variations in bareland […]

Winnipeg | CNS Canada – New strategies are going to be needed if Canada’s grain, pulse and oilseed crop sectors want to meet growing global food demand. That was one of the main themes circulating through the first day of presentations here at the inaugural Canadian Global Crops Symposium. Representatives from the pulse, canola, cereals […]