Standing corn north of St. Adolphe, Man. on Sept. 19, 2021. (Dave Bedard photo)

Feed weekly outlook: Corn trading higher than barley

Seeding begins in Alberta

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Imported corn from the U.S. is still the grain of choice for feedlots in southern Alberta, despite the fact feed barley is at a slightly lower price right now. Corn traded on Wednesday at around $480 per tonne ($12.19 per bushel) in Lethbridge, said Jim Beusekom, president of Market Place Commodities in Lethbridge. […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Klassen: Feedlot demand up prior to seasonal rally

Market for calves 'boiling hot' in Manitoba

Reading Time: 2 minutes For the week ending April 30, western Canadian feeder cattle prices were quite variable. Yearlings traded $8 lower as much as $5 higher. Severe discounts were noted on fleshier cattle; some auction barns reported the bulk of cattle over 800 pounds were medium to heavier flesh. Deferred live cattle futures were under pressure but the […] Read more


The USDA building in Washington, D.C. (Art Wager/iStock/Getty Images)

USDA attache predicts large 2022-23 grain crops for Canada

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Canada is expected to see a 30 per cent increase in grain production in 2022-23, according to estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service post in Ottawa. Expectations for improved yields for Prairie grain crops after the 2021-22 drought accounted for much of the projected increase, although USDA also cautioned […] Read more

(FIle photo)

Feed weekly outlook: Seeding on time in southern Alberta

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — As southern Alberta still reels from the effects of last summer’s drought, one trader expects spring seeding for feed grains to be on time. “I think it should be on schedule this year,” said Erin Harakal, trade manager for Agfinity Inc. at Stony Plain, Alta. Planting has already started in some places around […] Read more


Flags in front of the European Commission headquarters in Brussels. (Inakiantonana/E+/Getty Images)

EU crops to face some challenges in 2022-23

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Total grain production in the European Union is expected to decrease overall by 2.4 per cent in 2022-23, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture attachés throughout the multi-nation bloc. For the coming crop year, they forecast production to be 286.02 million tonnes of wheat, corn, barley, rye, oats, mixed grains and others. One […] Read more

Yuri, a Ukrainian farmer, wears his body armour while preparing to work in a field on April 26, 2022 in the country’s southern Zaporizhzhia region. (Photo: Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino)

Ukrainian farmers don bulletproof vests to plough frontline fields

Reading Time: 2 minutes Zaporizhzhia | Reuters — Ukrainian farmers in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, which borders the frontline of the military conflict with Russia, are now wearing body armour to plough their fields. A week after the war started, grad rockets — bombs fired via a truck-mounted multiple-launch system — began falling right next door to the […] Read more


(Greg Berg photo)

StatsCan predicts more Canadian wheat acres, less canola in 2022

Lentil, corn, soy acres are also expected up from 2021, barley down

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Canada’s farmers intend to seed more acres to wheat and less to canola in 2022, according to the first survey-based estimates from Statistics Canada for the upcoming crop year released Tuesday. Canola area is forecast at 20.9 million acres by the government agency, which would be down by seven per cent from the […] Read more

Calves are being sold sooner than expected while cow culling rates are higher than normal.  Photo: Thinkstock

Klassen: Adverse weather tempers feeder cattle market

Reading Time: 2 minutes Compared to last week, western Canadian feeder cattle markets traded $3-$4 on either side of unchanged. Southern Alberta experienced severe wind and dust storms last week which softened buying interest from a large portion of feedlot operators. At the same time, grass conditions are quite variable across the Prairies despite the recent precipitation. Cooler temperatures […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Drought fears, fertilizer may affect Canadian acreage estimates

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Traders and analysts awaiting Statistics Canada’s first survey-based acreage report for the 2022-23 crop year on Tuesday believe competition amongst crops — as well as their dependence on fertilizer, and the possibility of another drought this summer — will be determining factors. Canola stands as the best representation of traders’ concerns. Despite reaching […] Read more

(JJ Gouin/iStock/Getty Images)

Feed weekly outlook: U.S. corn imports getting expensive

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — As barley and wheat supplies for feed remain tight, demand for corn imports from the U.S. remains strong — but a rally in corn over the last couple of weeks is putting strain on the market, according to Brandon Motz of CorNine Commodities at Lacombe, Alta. “It is definitely deterring sales and/or purchases […] Read more