(File photo)

Feed weekly outlook: Prices gain strength

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Harvest activity in the western Canadian Prairies had depressed feed grain prices at the end of August, but prices have recovered slightly. “There’s been a bit of a break in harvest activity,” Allen Pirness of Market Place Commodities in Lethbridge said. Producers in southern Alberta had been harvesting barley at the end of […] Read more

Barley. (Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

China ban turns Australian barley growers toward domestic market

Growers may shift to alternative crops next season

Reading Time: < 1 minute Sydney | Reuters — Australian farmers will be forced to sell their barley supplies to the domestic livestock industry or cheaper international markets after China effectively banned imports from Australia, farmers said on Wednesday. China late on Tuesday said it would ban barley imports from Australia’s largest grain exporter, just weeks after it slapped a […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Klassen: Yearling market remains red hot

Barley harvest well underway in southern Alberta

Reading Time: 2 minutes Compared to last week, western Canadian yearling prices were $2-$4 higher on average; however, in southern Alberta, yearlings traded $6-$8 above week-ago levels. A few auction barns in Alberta held their first feature sales of the fall run and buyers showed up with both hands. The quality of yearlings coming off grass is excellent and […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Wheat crop to be second-largest on record, StatsCan predicts

Canola estimate at lower end of trade predictions

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Canada’s farmers will have grown their second-largest wheat crop on record in 2020, according to the first production estimates of the year from Statistics Canada, as released Monday. The government agency pegged total wheat production in the country for 2020-21 at 35.74 million tonnes, up 10.5 per cent on the year and second […] Read more


A barley crop south of Ethelton, Sask. on July 30, 2019. (Dave Bedard photo)

Feed weekly outlook: Grain prices soften into fall

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Old-crop feed grain prices are converging with new-crop and coming under some seasonal pressure. “As we get closer to new crop, we’ve been seeing the switch to new-crop prices from old-crop,” said Erin Harakal, a senior trader with Agfinity in Lethbridge. Feed barley prices are around $195-$200 per tonne delivered in the Lethbridge […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Canola crop expectations vary ahead of StatsCan report

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Statistics Canada is due to publish its first production estimates for Canada’s 2020 growing season on Monday (Aug. 31). Late-season hot temperatures and a lack of rain may cause Canada’s canola production to be lower than originally expected, according to some market participants. Earlier in the growing season, Winnipeg-based FarmLink Agriculture Solutions published […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Klassen: Yearling prices on fire

Canada's cattle herd remains in contraction stage

Reading Time: 2 minutes Compared to last week, yearlings coming off grass traded $3-$5 higher; backgrounded yearlings were $1-$3 higher on average while calf markets were relatively unchanged. February and April live cattle futures closed marginally lower for the week; however, fed cattle basis levels from U.S. packers are very strong for winter and spring. This appears to be […] Read more

Barley. (Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Feed weekly outlook: Early harvest pressures Alberta prices

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Feed prices in Alberta took something of a tumble this week, Allen Pirness of Market Place Commodities in Lethbridge reported. Feed prices in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, meanwhile, were steady. “Six weeks ago we were seeing harvest, at best, at the end of August. With the heat wave that’s been upon us the last […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Klassen: Yearling demand remains firm

Reading Time: 2 minutes Compared to last week, western Canadian yearlings fresh off grass traded steady to $2 higher; backgrounded yearlings were relatively unchanged. The calf market was too thin to quote. Major feedlot operators set the price structure and were once again very aggressive. While many feedlots are backed up with market-ready supplies of fed cattle, some feedlots […] Read more

(SteveMcsweeny/iStock/Getty Images)

Feed weekly outlook: Clearer picture of coming crop means lower prices

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Prices for feed barley and wheat have been trending lower recently, according to Brandon Motz of CorNine Commodities at Lacombe, Alta. While there has been some harvest pressure, Motz said “it’s more of an equalization of the crops. “We got through the crunch of July not knowing exactly where things were at. As […] Read more