A canola field blooms in Manitoba’s Interlake on July 11, 2019.  Photo: Greg Berg/File

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

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

Nutrien expects U.S. farmers to plant as many as 95 million acres of corn in 2020.  Photo: File/Greg Berg

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

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


Cargill sells hog nutrition products in China under the Purina brand. (Video screengrab from Cargill.com via YouTube)

Cargill shuts China feed mills as swine fever spreads

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

Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and Trade Diversification Minister Jim Carr meet with Canadian beef and pork industry officials Wednesday in Montreal. (Photo courtesy Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)

Canada proposes China meat export solution

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





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

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

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

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

China, drought, debt shake Canadian farm finances

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


(Erdinhasdemir/iStock/Getty Images)

Ottawa expands insurance for canola exporters amid China dispute

Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa/Winnipeg | Reuters — Ottawa increased the insurance coverage available for canola exporters, a government corporation said on Thursday, as it seeks to reduce trade risks amid a dispute with China. China halted purchases of Canadian canola in March, citing pests in shipments by Richardson International and Viterra. That move, which came as Beijing has […] Read more

Emerging durum south of Griffin, Sask. on May 31, 2019. (Leeann Minogue photo)

Canadian wheat sales to China hit 14-year high despite dispute

Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg/Chicago | Reuters — Canada has shipped the most wheat to China in 14 years, contrasting a sudden halt in canola trade amid a diplomatic dispute between the countries, as Chinese buyers shunned the United States. China bought 1.5 million tonnes of wheat from Canada from August 2018 through April 2019, nearly double the pace […] Read more