Canada Malting’s processing plant in Montreal. (CanadaMalting.com)

GrainCorp’s global malting spinoff gets shareholders’ blessing

Canada Malting to go to new owner, United Malt Group

Reading Time: 3 minutes Shareholders in the Australian owner of Canada’s biggest malt company have voted nearly all in favour of a spinoff for their worldwide malting assets. During their general meeting Monday in Sydney, participating shareholders in GrainCorp voted over 99 per cent in favour of resolutions which will see the company’s malt business become a standalone ASX-listed […] Read more

(Country Guide file photo)

Prairie cash wheat: Weaker loonie battles lower U.S. futures

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Wheat bids in Western Canada for the week ended Thursday saw prices for Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) wheat on either side of steady. Prices for Canada Prairie Spring Red (CPSR) saw a greater range of losses and gains, while prices for Canada Western Amber Durum (CWAD) were steady to higher. There was […] Read more


(Kat72/iStock/Getty Images)

Feed weekly outlook: Seasonal restrictions underpin grains

Coronavirus fallout being watched

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Seasonal weight restrictions and spring road bans are providing some underlying support for feed grain bids in Western Canada, with the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak also being followed closely. “Winter weights are coming off, which is restricting the areas (feedlots) can pull from,” said Allen Pirness, of MarketPlace Commodities in Lethbridge, adding “there’s a […] Read more

CDC Fraser shows good lodging resistance, an important trait for maintaining malting quality.

Balancing demands for both quality and yield in barley

New barley varieties show yield gains over old favourites AC Metcalfe and CDC Copeland. What’s needed now is industry acceptance

Reading Time: 4 minutes A quick scan of the farm press this spring might have been enough to convince you Canadian barley has a yield problem. The sharp drop in Prairie acreage suggests farmers may think the same thing — only 6.2 million acres were seeded last year, about two million less than 10 years earlier and half the […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Feed weekly outlook: Soft demand weighs on prices

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Feed grain prices on the Prairies remain soft ahead of spring planting, due to quiet demand from feedlots. “Feedlots are full of grain right now,” Brandon Motz of CorNine Commodities at Lacombe, Alta. said, explaining that there’s currently a lot of grain in feeding pipelines. “Spring replacement into feedlots has been really slow.” […] Read more

(Country Guide file photo)

Prairie cash wheat: Spring wheat drops, durum steady

MGEX, CBOT, K.C. May wheats down on week

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Prairie wheat bids for Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) and Canada Prairie Spring Red (CPSR) wheat were lower for the week ended Thursday, following losses in U.S. futures. Canada Western Amber Durum (CWAD) largely held steady, buoyed by a weaker Canadian dollar, which lost about six-10ths of a cent. Average CWRS (13.5 per […] Read more


As seeding season approaches, a new seed royalty pilot is getting off the ground, to some controversy.  Photo: File

Seed pilot project unveiled

Reading Time: 4 minutes The new Seed Variety Use Agreement (SVUA) pilot project, unveiled in Winnipeg Feb. 25, will demonstrate the benefits of farmers paying breeders a royalty for seed saved for planting. But the Prairies’ five wheat and barley commissions have “significant concern” about the project, they said in a news release. The SVUA pilot is being organized […] Read more

“As a grain farmer, I felt I needed to be part of that conversation,” says Shelley Spruit. Canadians were turning away from the foods our farmers grow, creating a unique business opportunity.

A hunger for opportunity

From their eastern Ontario farm, Shelley Spruit is rediscovering old wheats, and how to turn consumer trends into an impressive, farm-based business plan

Reading Time: 9 minutes Shelley Spruit likes to say she began a thriving farm business with a single cup of seed. In fact, there’s a certain rightness to her choosing those exact words, as if it was a recipe. After all, Spruit can run a kitchen and turn out five-course meals just as well as she operates a farm […] Read more



Prairie cash wheat: Bids mostly weaker on U.S. price declines

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Bids in Western Canada for the week ended Thursday were steady to lower for Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS), Canada Prairie Spring Red (CPSR) and durum (CWAD) wheats, as declines in U.S. wheat prices weighed on values. The Canadian dollar was up two-10ths of a U.S. cent during the week, which also put […] Read more