Crop-friendly weather for U.S. Midwest into autumn: NOAA

Reading Time: 2 minutes Good crop weather is expected now through autumn in the U.S. Midwest, drought will persist in the Plains states and excessive rainfall will continue in the southeast, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric (NOAA) climate update released on Thursday. NOAA climatologists indicated no extreme temperatures or a return of drought in the key corn […] Read more

GRAINS: corn, soy drop for 2nd day on wetter Midwest forecast

Reading Time: 2 minutes U.S. corn and soybean prices retreated for the second straight day on Thursday as forecasts for milder temperatures and slightly more rain across much of the Midwest lessened worries about crop damage. Slight adjustments to weather forecasts have steered the grains markets recently. Corn has been jarred most because the crop will be pollinating in […] Read more


Spring wheat futures stuck in downtrend: analyst

Reading Time: 2 minutes Spring wheat futures at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange remain stuck in a well established downtrend and are expected to remain pointed lower barring a weather scare or other outside influence. “Looking at a chart, it continues to show some weakness,” said Austin Damiani, a broker with Frontier Futures in Minneapolis. The September wheat contract in Minneapolis […] Read more

Barriers for young farmers theme of CFA roundtable

Reading Time: < 1 minute Barriers for young farmers entering agriculture was the theme of a Canadian Federation of Agriculture roundtable with federal, provincial and territorial agriculture ministers meeting in Halifax today. “The Canadian agricultural sector is diverse, but the need to support new farmers and remove barriers for new entrants was evident in the discussion and is a point […] Read more


Saskatchewan crops in good shape despite storm damage

Reading Time: < 1 minute Crops in Saskatchewan were in mostly good to excellent shape as of July 15 although storms had caused serious damage, the province said on Thursday in its weekly crop report. • Percentage of crop in good/excellent condition: spring wheat 86 per cent; durum 88 per cent; oats 86 per cent; barley 81 per cent; canola […] Read more

Bertha on the rise in Alberta

Reading Time: < 1 minute In his weekly Call of the Land radio interview, Alberta Agriculture pest specialist Scott Meers says that bertha armyworm counts are “Enough to get a little bit concerned about, with some sites at “the first level of warning.” Meers has posted a video on how to scout for berthas. Meers said that in two to […] Read more


Canola Watch for July 17 – insects and hail options

Reading Time: < 1 minute The Canola Council of Canada’s Canola Watch features these topics this week. Click here for the full report. • Grasshopper thresholds • Lygus thresholds • Insect update: Bertha rising, Swede midge, etc. • Bertha armyworm scouting tips • How to ID 50% flower • Options for canola wiped out by hail

Livestock – U.S. cattle futures wilt with beef demand

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures fell on Wednesday as wholesale beef prices slumped amid scorching heat in parts of the country, traders and analysts said. “Conditions like these don’t typically encourage heavy high protein meals which will likely produce negative impact on animal protein consumption,” Hales Trading Co President David Hales said. The U.S. […] Read more


Grains-U.S. corn drops 1.7 per cent on rainier Midwest forecast

Reading Time: 2 minutes U.S. corn prices fell 1.7 per cent on Wednesday as weather models suggested the coming weeks could be rainier than previously thought in the grain belt, easing some fears about heat and dryness. Soybeans were mixed as the more favorable weather outlook pressured post-harvest prices while strong processor demand and thin nearby stocks underpinned the […] Read more

High-yielding, short-season wheat controversy comes to official end

Reading Time: 2 minutes A new variety of wheat with earlier maturity, higher yield and better disease resistance has been developed by a department of agriculture breeder, but is being opposed for registration by grain commission officials in Winnipeg. Sounds familiar, except that it was actually the Board of Grain Commissioners, as it’s a story that dates to 1924, […] Read more