Canadian Pacific Railway’s CEO has warned readers of Canada’s two national newspapers that adding more rail cars and locomotives now on CP track would serve only to worsen the grain backlog on the Prairies. Writing in full-page CP advertisements in Thursday’s Globe and Mail and National Post, Hunter Harrison said adding more cars to a […]

CNS Canada — Container truck drivers at the Port of Vancouver could walk off the job as early as noon Thursday, according to reports. The Vancouver Container Truckers’ Association (VCTA), which represents 400 drivers, issued a 72-hour strike notice on Monday after a 100 per cent vote in favour of taking action. More than 1,000 […]

BMO Bank of Montreal plans to offer Prairie farmers a “relief program” including options for loan payment deferrals and other breaks in view of the ongoing grain handling backlog. “We want to provide immediate support to any grain producers and other related businesses that may be experiencing cash flow disruptions as a result of the […]

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade corn prices rose to a six-month high on Thursday as stronger-than-expected weekly U.S. export sales data underscored renewed demand for the grain, traders said. Soybeans rose more than one per cent on continued export demand for tightening U.S. supplies and ahead of a monthly U.S. government crop […]

United Nations | Reuters — If the fighting in South Sudan prevents people from planting crops over the next three months, the country will be headed for a humanitarian disaster, the humanitarian co-ordinator for the United Nations in South Sudan said Tuesday. The conflict in the world’s youngest country erupted in December between troops backing […]

Chicago | Reuters – U.S. corn futures closed lower on Wednesday after a choppy session as the market’s rally to the highest levels in nearly six months triggered profit-taking and farmer selling, traders said. Wheat slipped from a near three-month high, but worries about political turmoil in Ukraine, a major grain exporter, as well as […]

CNS Canada — Soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade moved higher for the fourth straight week during the Feb. 26 to March 5 period. Steady demand, ongoing concerns about tight U.S. supplies and weather problems in South America helped to support the market. Prices looked like they had hit a top, and the […]

CNS Canada — Canola futures on the ICE Futures Canada trading platform moved sharply higher during the week ended March 5, with ideas that canola is undervalued compared to other oilseeds helping to lift prices. Traders were said to be spreading against other oilseeds, buying canola and selling U.S. soybeans and products. Political problems in […]

Kiev | Reuters — Foreign trading houses have shunned new grain export contracts due to continued tensions between Ukraine and Russia, Ukraine’s agriculture minister Ihor Shvaika said on Wednesday. “They are still waiting and there are no new contracts,” Shvaika told Reuters. In the wider dispute Wednesday, Russia rebuffed Western demands to withdraw forces in […]

Winnipeg | CNS Canada — Peas are starting to pencil out as a good cropping option for farmers in Western Canada to plant this spring. High fertilizer prices and low returns for some of the bigger crops are helping make peas a more attractive option, David Katerynych, grain broker with Kat Commodities Ltd., said during […]