Articles Written by Rod Nickel

Big Ag wants a cut of booming fake-meat market

By Rod Nickel, Tom Polansek September 11, 2019

Reading Time: 4 minutes Winnipeg/Chicago | Reuters — Bunge, one the world’s biggest grain traders, recently disclosed the 1.6 per cent stake it had purchased in the fast-growing fake-meat startup Beyond Meat. The play looked smart after the stock surged more than 250 per cent since the faux burger and sausage maker’s initial public offering in May. Indeed, Beyond […] Read more

Canola, Crops, Markets, Reuters

Shut out of China, Canada finds canola buyers in drought-damaged Europe

By Gus Trompiz, Rod Nickel August 22, 2019

Reading Time: 3 minutes Winnipeg/Paris | Reuters — Crop-scorching drought in Europe is providing Canadian canola farmers a timely new opportunity to move supplies that have piled up since China stopped buying this year. Rising European sales are taking some of the sting out of losing the Chinese market for Canadian farmers, although ICE canola futures prices are down […] Read more

Crops, Reuters

Canada crop tour sees smaller canola crop after reduced plantings, dry spring

By Rod Nickel August 1, 2019

Reading Time: 1 minute Winnipeg | Reuters – Canadian farmers are likely to reap a smaller canola crop in 2019-20 due to reduced plantings and dry conditions, consultancy FarmLink Marketing Solutions said on Thursday after a crop tour of the prairie provinces. The Grain World tour on Tuesday and Wednesday, organized by FarmLink, visited fields in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba to observe […] Read more

Corn, Reuters

Nutrien sees big corn comeback in 2020, following U.S. floods

By Rod Nickel July 30, 2019

Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg | Reuters – Fertilizer producer and farm supply dealer Nutrien Ltd expects U.S. farmers to plant as many as 95 million acres (38.5 million hectares) of corn next year, the most in seven years, after a frustrating year of floods, its chief executive said. The wet conditions left millions of acres unplanted across the […] Read more

Hogs, Livestock, Reuters

Cargill shuts China feed mills as swine fever spreads

By Rod Nickel, Tom Polansek July 12, 2019

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Cargill shuttered animal-feed mills in China in recent months partly because the rapid spread of a fatal hog disease has reduced demand, a company executive said Friday. The closures highlight the pain for global agriculture companies from the outbreak of African swine fever in China, the world’s top hog producer and […] Read more

Beef Cattle, Hogs, Livestock, Reuters

Canada proposes China meat export solution

By David Ljunggren, Rod Nickel July 3, 2019

Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Canada offered a plan to reassure China about the security of its meat export system, a Canadian minister said on Wednesday, as Ottawa rejected Chinese criticism of its efforts to enlist allies to resolve a diplomatic dispute between the countries. China said last week it wanted the Canadian government to stop allowing meat […] Read more

Hogs, Livestock, Markets, Reuters

China’s shutout of Canadian meat scrambles global pork flow

By Rod Nickel June 26, 2019

Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg | Reuters — China’s decision to block imports of Canadian meat has set off a global chain reaction in pork trading but it will do little to curb overall demand as a disease ravaging the Chinese hog herd elevates prices, industry experts say. China said on Tuesday it wants the Canadian government to temporarily […] Read more

Livestock, Markets, Reuters

China halts Canadian meat shipments over bogus documents

By Kelsey Johnson, Rod Nickel June 25, 2019

Reading Time: 3 minutes Ottawa | Reuters — China said Tuesday it will turn away all meat shipped from Canada, just days before China and the United States sit down to work on settling a trade dispute that has also caught Canada in the crossfire. China launched an investigation after inspections found residues of ractopamine, a feed additive not […] Read more

Crops, Pasture, Reuters, Weather

Rain gives farmers relief, for now, from three-year drought

By Rod Nickel June 25, 2019

Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg | Reuters — With drought turning Chad Ross’s pastures brown, the southeastern Saskatchewan rancher sent 140 head of cattle to slaughter earlier than usual this spring, as the Prairies’ three-year drought made them too expensive to feed. The ranch and feedlot near Estevan has lost money two straight years. Long-awaited rains that swept the […] Read more

Crops, Machinery, Markets, Weather

China, drought, debt shake Canadian farm finances

By Kelsey Johnson, Rod Nickel June 19, 2019

Reading Time: 3 minutes Winnipeg/Ottawa | Reuters — For years, the financial stability of Canadian farmers was the envy of their U.S. counterparts, but rising costs, drought and a dispute with China have weakened their bottom lines. Net incomes plunged last year, and that setback was followed in March by China’s halting purchases of canola, Canada’s biggest crop. Now […] Read more

Klassen: Limited harvest progress weighs on feeder cattle

Pot producer CannTrust to destroy $77M in plants, inventory

Trump’s hailing of Chinese farm purchases seen as ‘meaningless’

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