Reading Time: 6 minutes In formulating their crop plans for a year, growers cite a blend of influences, from climate and planting conditions to commodity pricing, fertility plans and weed and disease management strategies. All play a part in the decision-making process because there has to be some give in those hard-and-fast rules on rotations. Sometimes you have to […] Read more
Get more with wheat
Wheat deserves more credit for the great outlook on Ontario farms
Millers, bakers fret as drought withers North America’s spring wheat
Reading Time: 3 minutes Reuters – Millers and bakers are draining wheat reserves and paying more for spring wheat used in baking, as drought shrivels crops across the Canadian Prairies and northern U.S. Plains that produce more than half of the world’s supply. U.S. and Canadian farmers are bracing for a sharply smaller spring wheat harvest due to the […] Read more
Feed weekly outlook: Reduced yields starting to become a reality
Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm – As old crop stocks of feed barley and feed wheat continue to dwindle, the realization of reduced yields is now supporting bids for new crop. “Down here, there are a few guys that are starting to pull off some barley here in the next little bit. You’re going to find that the barley […] Read more
Better wheat varieties ahead
Genome editing and CRISPR technology are scoring bigger wins in shorter time frames for cereal breeding
Reading Time: 5 minutes Last November, the 10+ Genome Project and its international team of researchers were hailed for their role in sequencing the genomes of 15 wheat varieties from around the world. It was an astounding accomplishment with great potential for cereal breeding, particularly for a sector that struggles to keep up with the investments being made in […] Read more
Southern, eastern North Dakota spring wheat yields hurt by drought
Reading Time: 2 minutes Mandan, N.D. | Reuters – Spring wheat yields in southern and east central North Dakota are well below average as a severe drought slashed production potential in the country’s top producing state, scouts on an annual crop tour said on Tuesday. Crop scouts calculated an average spring wheat yield at 29.5 bushels per acre (bpa) […] Read more
Durum markets reckon with weather
'There was no wiggle room for a crop problem'
Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — The higher temperatures soared and the longer between rains in Western Canada, the lower the yield projections for most crops — and drought-tolerant durum wheat is no exception. With bids already elevated due to a downturn in potential new-crop supply, the price of durum could rise even higher. “There’s not a lot of […] Read more
Feed weekly outlook: Bids rising in Saskatchewan
Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Feed grain prices in Western Canada are continuing their ongoing rise as heat and dryness cover the region. “For feed wheat (on Tuesday), I finally got a bid of $10 per bushel, which is really an amazing bid,” said Dale McManus, broker for Johnston Grains at Welwyn, Sask. The high-delivered bid for feed […] Read more
Oat crop across Western Canada ‘not stellar’
Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — As with most other crops on the Prairies, conditions are “not stellar” for oats, according to Shawna Mathieson, executive director for the Prairie Oat Growers Association. POGA directors from across the region who participated in a recent board meeting had a rather grim outlook on the coming harvest, she said. “Not a single […] Read more
Pest Patrol: Bluegrass management in winter wheat
#PestPatrol with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA
Reading Time: 3 minutes Yield losses of more than 50 per cent can occur from bluegrass competition in winter wheat. As well, because bluegrass species often head at the same time as winter wheat, they could intercept and reduce the amount of fusarium head blight fungicide that actually reaches the grain head (Figure 1 at top). There are several […] Read more
Prairie cash wheat: Bids up with strong gains in U.S. markets
Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Bids spiked for Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS), Canada Prairie Spring Red (CPSR), and durum (CWAD) wheats in Western Canada for the week ended Thursday. Steep increases in U.S. wheat futures supported values, as did a lower Canadian dollar which lost more than a half cent. Average CWRS (13.5 per cent protein) wheat […] Read more