A spray plane flies over a swarm of desert locusts at Lemasulani village in Kenya’s Samburu County on Jan. 17, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Njeri Mwangi)

Locust swarming pheromone identified in step toward curbing plagues

Reading Time: 2 minutes Washington | Reuters — Scientists have identified a chemical compound released by locusts that causes them to swarm, opening the door to possible new ways to prevent these insects from devouring crops vital to human sustenance as they have for millennia. Researchers said on Wednesday they identified the pheromone — that is, a chemical produced […] Read more

File photo of a pea crop south of Ethelton, Sask. on Aug. 1, 2019. (Dave Bedard photo)

Pea crops strong, but prices falter

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Pea crops across the Prairies are expected to be in good condition ahead of the harvest. “As we go along with the sunshine and heat, the pulses are coming in fairly quickly,” said Darwin Hamilton of Kalshea Commodities in Winnipeg. “Without any excess moisture, the quality should be good this year.” Pea prices […] Read more


(USDA.gov via Flickr)

U.S. farmers to harvest record-large corn crop, second-largest soy crop, USDA says

Estimates don't include impact of recent Midwest storm

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. farmers will reap their biggest corn harvest and their second biggest soybean harvest this fall as good summer weather shepherded the crops through key phases of development, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Wednesday. The crop outlooks, which also included average yields for both corn and soybeans as the largest […] Read more

(PortOfThunderBay.com)

Thunder Bay grain exports continue at strong pace

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Grain shipments through the Port of Thunder Bay continue to run at a strong pace, with season-to-date volumes of 4.2 million tonnes up 26 per cent on the year. A total of 961,419 tonnes of grain were shipped through the port, located on the northern shores of Lake Superior, in July, port officials […] Read more


(File photo)

Pulse weekly outlook: Chickpea prices steady into harvest

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — The chickpea harvest is underway in some areas of the Prairies, including southern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan, where pulse crops were planted earlier due to drier spring weather. So far, the chickpea crop has seen co-operative weather conditions. “As we go along with this sunshine and heat, the pulses are coming in very […] Read more

Plants at Delta 9 Cannabis’ indoor production facility in Winnipeg. (Dave Bedard photo)

Cannabis industry readies for M+A after COVID-19 boosts weed demand

Companies betting on U.S. market growth after election

Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — After nearly a year of next-to-no dealmaking, cannabis companies are gearing up for mergers and acquisitions (M+A) as realistic stock valuations and the prospect of U.S. legalization attract buyers to a sector that has been decimated by oversupply and other issues, executives and investors say. Profitable cannabis companies want to buy their way […] Read more


A general view of damage at the site of Tuesday’s blast in Beirut’s port area on Aug. 5, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Mohamed Azakir)

North American ammonium nitrate laws best in world, Nutrien CEO says

Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg | Reuters — North America’s regulations for handling ammonium nitrate, a potentially explosive product used in fertilizer and in the mining industry, are the strictest in the world, the CEO of Canadian fertilizer producer Nutrien said Tuesday. An ammonium nitrate stockpile exploded last week in Beirut killing at least 171 people, injuring 6,000 and […] Read more

Smoke rises from the site of an explosion in Beirut’s port area on Aug. 4, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Mohamed Azakir)

Who owned the chemicals that blew up Beirut? No one will say

The fertilizer's Georgian producer has since been dissolved; the ship that brought it to Lebanon sank in 2018

Reading Time: 5 minutes Moscow/Dubai/London | Reuters — In the murky story of how a cache of highly explosive ammonium nitrate ended up on the Beirut waterfront, one thing is clear — no one has ever publicly come forward to claim it. There are many unanswered questions surrounding last week’s huge, deadly blast in the Lebanese capital, but ownership […] Read more


CBOT December 2020 corn with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn futures tread water as Midwest’s farmers assess storm damage

Analysts still expect large U.S. harvest

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn futures ended flat on Tuesday as traders and analysts predicted that farmers will harvest a large crop despite a damaging storm that tore across the U.S. Midwest on Monday. Soybean futures were steady, while wheat futures rose on technical buying. Farmers are assessing the damage to their corn from […] Read more

The Dowling farm has three New Holland combines — TR96 from 1991, a TR99 from 2000 and a CR970 from 2004. All three were part of the PAMI combine loss survey in 2019, and losses were about the same for each.

Old combines hold their own at harvest

A PAMI survey finds canola losses can be minimized by operators who understand their machines and how to set them

Reading Time: 6 minutes When the Dowling farm at MacDowall, Sask., runs any of its three New Holland combines of various vintages, canola losses out the back are basically the same. The three models are a TR96 from 1991, a TR99 from 2000 and a CR970 from 2004. “I was impressed with how consistent they were,” says Sheldon Dowling. […] Read more