A new biocontrol is proposed to use fungal microbes to prevent healthy wheat heads (top) from damage by fusarium head blight (bottom). (Keith Weller photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

New biocontrol to fight fusarium in cereals

Reading Time: 2 minutes Using fire to fight fire, a new biocontrol product could be commercialized for use against fusarium head blight in a year or two. Adjuvants Plus at Kingsville, Ont. has reached a licensing agreement with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) to use its patented technology — a fungal organism called Clonostachys rosea, strain ACM941 — to […] Read more


Bread is baked at Erbil in northern Iraq in March 2003. Islamic State fighters are reported today to be entering Iraqi government silos in wheat-growing regions of the country, taking wheat for milling and marketing the flour locally. (Photo courtesy United Nations Oil-for-Food Program, www.un.org/Depts/oip/)

Islamic State militants grab new weapon: Iraqi wheat

Reading Time: 4 minutes Baghdad/Abu Dhabi | Reuters — After seizing five oil fields and Iraq’s biggest dam, Sunni militants bent on creating an Islamic empire in the Middle East now control yet another powerful economic weapon: wheat supplies. Fighters from the Islamic State have overrun large areas in five of Iraq’s most fertile provinces, where the United Nations […] Read more

Southern Alta. barley harvest underway

Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — Harvest started this week for some barley crops in southern Alberta — parts of which have reported little or no rain for weeks. “I’m in southern Alberta (where) we just started harvest on our barley (on Monday), and I would say that the barley crops look good, (but) we’ve been a bit […] Read more


Prairie winter wheat harvest to ‘drag on’

Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — The winter wheat harvest is underway in some parts of the Prairies, but because of variable conditions, activities are expected to ‘drag on’ this year. “Some people are saying some of it may run into the spring crops,” said Jake Davidson of Winter Cereals Canada at Minnedosa, Man. “But overall things are […] Read more

USDA projects record U.S. corn, soybean production

Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — U.S. corn production will crack the 14-billion-bushel mark for the first time in 2014, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Tuesday, but the crop was slightly below trade expectations, potentially giving a bullish kick to the beaten-down corn futures market. At 14.03 billion bushels, the estimated crop fell short of trade estimates […] Read more


(Country Guide file photo)

Improving basis boosts Prairie wheat bids

Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada — Average bids for Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) and Canada Prairie Spring Red (CPSR) wheat were stronger during the week ended Monday, as improving basis levels more than compensated for declines in U.S. futures. Average spot bids for CWRS (13.5 per cent protein) across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta came in Monday at […] Read more

The M.V. Ikan Suji arrived Tuesday at Churchill, Man. to take a load of Richardson International’s wheat to Mexico. (Photo courtesy Richardson International)

Churchill open, hopes for record exports

Reading Time: < 1 minute The first ship of what’s hoped to be a record-breaking year was loading wheat at Manitoba’s Port of Churchill starting Tuesday. The M.V. Ikan Suji began taking on 32,500 tonnes of No. 2 Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) wheat sold by Richardson International and destined for Mexico. Merv Tweed, president of OmniTrax Canada, which owns […] Read more


Durum prices, quality vary

Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — The Canadian durum crop is currently seeing a wide range in both crop quality and prices. “It looks like the prices are quite volatile,” said Jerry Klassen, manager of GAP SA Grains and Produits in Winnipeg. “They are quite variable between $7 per bushel to $8.50 per bushel.” This wide price range […] Read more

Winter wheat harvest underway in central Man.

Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada –– The winter wheat harvest is underway in Manitoba, with farmers starting to combine the crop in the central region during the week ended Tuesday. The latest crop report from Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development cited preliminary results showing average yields of about 60 bushels an acre for the winter wheat crop, […] Read more