Reading Time: 3 minutes Washington | Reuters — Senior Canadian, U.S. and Mexican officials trying to rescue slow-moving talks to update the NAFTA trade pact met on Monday in a new bid to resolve key issues before regional elections complicate the process. With time fast running out to strike some kind of deal on the North American Free Trade […] Read more
NAFTA talks resume amid fears of ‘zombie’ deal
Churchill possibly to return to shipping grain
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — Grain could once again be shipped out of northern Manitoba’s Port of Churchill if all goes according to plan for a new potential ownership group. “The port has got all of the grain handling equipment and simply said, the first thing we want to do is resume that commercial activity,” said Louis […] Read more
Keeping the place up
Manufacturers offer new yard care machines for 2018
Reading Time: 3 minutes As the warm weather comes on, a job on every farm is to pull the yard care equipment out of storage and get it running again. If that’s getting to be a nuisance, you might want to look at some of the new offerings in the lawn and sub-compact tractor segments that manufacturers have introduced […] Read more
Voting scheduled for CP employees on verge of strike
Reading Time: 2 minutes Engineers, conductors and signal maintainers who’d been poised to walk off the job at Canadian Pacific Railway almost two weeks ago will instead continue business as usual until at least May 26. The Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) this week informed CP and two of its employees’ unions — the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) […] Read more
POET unseats ADM as top global fuel ethanol maker
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Privately held, U.S.-based POET has overtaken industry pioneer and global grain merchant Archer Daniels Midland to become the top ethanol producer in the world, the companies told Reuters. ADM had been the biggest ethanol maker since the U.S. began requiring refiners to mix billions of gallons of biofuels into the nation’s […] Read more
Monsanto product to deactivate dicamba residue in sprayer tanks
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Monsanto is launching the first product that deactivates a controversial herbicide inside spraying equipment after it is used, the company said on Tuesday, its latest attempt to prevent unintended crop damage associated with dicamba. The new product aims to stop farmers from accidentally applying traces of dicamba on crops that cannot […] Read more
CTA to bump up Prairie grain freight cost index
Reading Time: 2 minutes Fuel and infrastructure improvements are expected to push up the cost of railroading and, in turn, the index guiding how much money Canada’s big two railways get to keep from hauling Prairie grain in the next crop year. The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) on Wednesday announced it will set the volume-related composite price index (VRCPI) […] Read more
Grain handle drops in CN’s first quarter
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reduced traffic in grain, fertilizers and petroleum, against increased costs from “challenging operating conditions,” ate into the first-quarter bottom line for Canadian National Railway (CN). Montreal-based CN on Monday booked net income of $741 million on total revenues of $3.194 billion for its quarter ending March 31, down from $884 million on $3.206 billion in […] Read more
What’s next for Massey Ferguson?
AGCO injects new life into the MF brand in Europe, promising to add “an avalanche” of new products in bright red paint
Reading Time: 8 minutes The attitude of marketing staff and the overall experience of just being at AGCO’s giant display at Agritechnica this year was different than I’d seen in past years. The stand was clearly divided between the company’s two primary brands sold in Europe: Massey Ferguson and Fendt. Then, an incident really drove home the reality of […] Read more
Strike action postponed at CP
Reading Time: 2 minutes Conductors, engineers and signal maintainers at Canadian Pacific Railway won’t be walking off the job Saturday, but will instead vote soon on a contract offer their unions recommend they reject. Federal Labour Minister Patty Hajdu on Friday agreed to a request from CP to have the Canadian Industrial Relations Board administer a ratification vote on […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
