Reading Time: 2 minutes Prairie special crop processor Legumex Walker is weighing its options after major lenders to the company’s U.S. canola crushing arm called their loan. Pacific Coast Canola, a cold-press canola crushing operation at Warden, Wash., about 160 km southwest of Spokane, is 84 per cent owned by TSX-traded, Winnipeg-based Legumex, and 16 per cent owned by commodity […] Read more
Loan called on Legumex’s U.S. canola crusher
Early Sask. lentil, pea harvests likely to support prices
Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada –– Saskatchewan’s dryness could likely mean an earlier harvest and smaller yield for pea and lentil crops this year, according to a regional crop specialist. That means new-crop prices will be supported, said Chuck Penner, president at LeftField Commodity Research. Old crops are disappearing, he said, and the market will become active as […] Read more
Talks wrap on Canada/Ukraine free trade pact
Reading Time: 2 minutes Canada’s crop and livestock producers expect to benefit soon from a free trade agreement with Ukraine, on which the two countries’ governments have now formally completed talks. Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Tuesday, during a visit from Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, that trade negotiations between the two countries wrapped up in Kiev on July 9, and […] Read more
Pea growers mull contract opportunities despite dry fields
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada –– The lack of rain in Western Canada is causing a few headaches for pea farmers, who don’t have a crop to call their own yet, but face Asian customers eager to get their hands on fresh supplies. While rain is on the wish list of most growers on the Prairies, the pea […] Read more
Dryness stalls Sask., Alta. fababeans
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — Fababeans are increasing in popularity across the Prairies, but much like other crops in Alberta and Saskatchewan, dry weather is taking its toll — and if it continues, yield could be impacted. Fababeans require a lot of moisture to produce well, according to Dale Risula, a Saskatchewan provincial specialist for special crops […] Read more
Canada may have already passed peak gluten-free
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada –– Increased demand by Canadians for gluten-free products had an impact on the wheat industry, leading reduced sales and experiments with new ways to feed the market. Now, industry specialists have mixed opinions on the future of gluten-free. Almost a third of Canadians, 10 million people, are seeking out gluten-free products, according to […] Read more
Sources say BASF mulling potential bid for Syngenta
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — German chemicals group BASF is considering a potential offer for Syngenta, its Swiss rival which has received a C$56 billion takeover offer from Monsanto, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. BASF is speaking to investment bankers about the possibility of an offer for Syngenta, though it has made no decision and […] Read more
Sask. producer car loader firm owners approve AGT bid
Reading Time: 2 minutes Shareholders in a western Saskatchewan producer car loading firm have approved a deal to sell their loading sites to Regina pulse processor AGT Food and Ingredients for $22 million. AGT announced Tuesday it has completed its deal, announced in April, to buy the bulk loading assets from Eston, Sask.-based West Central Road and Rail. The […] Read more
Tight lentil market watching weather
Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada — Old-crop large green lentils saw a jump in price over the past week, but actual supplies are few and far between, with most market participants turning attention to new-crop opportunities and weather uncertainty across Western Canada’s lentil-growing regions. “The trade is very thin right now,” said analyst Chuck Penner of LeftField Commodity […] Read more
Quality, not quantity key to chickpea sales
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada –– Chickpeas may be relatively small in terms of acreage in Western Canada, but the quality aspects of the country’s crop, especially the larger-calibre varieties, may help command some premiums in the global market. Canadian farmers intend to plant 140,000 acres of chickpeas in 2015, down from the 170,000 seeded the previous year […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
