Standing corn west of Giroux, Man. on Oct. 21, 2019. (Dave Bedard photo)

StatsCan shows corn, soy output down across board

Reading Time: 2 minutes Despite increases in Ontario’s harvested acres for both soybeans and corn, the province’s production of both crops in 2019 followed the rest of Canada’s lower in Statistics Canada’s latest estimates. StatsCan’s November estimates for production of principal field crops, released Friday, dropped Canada’s production of soybeans to six million tonnes, down 18.5 per cent from […] Read more

Canola in swath near Starbuck, Man. on Aug. 10, 2019. (MarketsFarm photo by Glen Hallick)

StatsCan report puts canola production at lowest since 2015

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Data from Statistics Canada’s production of principal field crops report, released Friday morning, will likely be supportive of canola values, put pressure on barley, and keep wheat prices steady. In the report, canola production across Canada decreased by 8.3 per cent nationally to 18.6 million tonnes, compared to 2018 production volumes. The decreased […] Read more


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

U.S. grains: CBOT wheat surges to five-month high

Reading Time: 2 minutes Corrected, Nov. 30 — Chicago | Reuters — Chicago wheat futures exploded to a five-month high on Friday due to threats to global production and as fund scrambled to cover their short positions in the post-holiday market, traders said. The wheat rally gave support to Chicago corn futures, which hit a three-week high on the […] Read more

Unharvested canola under snow in October 2016. (Lisa Guenther photo)

Millions of acres of canola freeze, compound ‘harvest from hell’

Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg | Reuters — Heavy snow and rain during harvest on the Canadian Prairies have left several million acres of canola buried until spring, the latest blow in a miserable year that may compound farmer problems into 2020. Canola is renowned as Canada’s most profitable crop, exported to China, Japan and Mexico to make vegetable […] Read more





Harvest weather so far this fall may cost barley end-users seeking malting-grade product this year, the CMBTC warns. (Dave Bedard photo)

As harvest drags on, malt barley quality uncertain

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — The quality of Canada’s 2019-20 barley crop remains to be seen, as cool and wet harvest conditions across much of the Prairies are raising concerns over how much will meet malt specifications. “We’ll lose a lot of malting barley this year, because of the weather,” said Peter Watts, managing director of the Canadian […] Read more

The highlighted spot in this 2017 aerial photo shows the area of expansion at McCain’s potato processing plant at Florenceville, N.B. (CNW Group/McCain Foods)

McCain to dial up fry production in New Brunswick

Reading Time: 2 minutes The company behind about a quarter of the world’s frozen French fries plans to ramp up demand from New Brunswick potato growers with a line capacity upgrade at its recently expanded plant there. McCain Foods announced Aug. 27 it will put up another $12 million to add capacity to its Florenceville, N.B. plant’s French fry […] Read more


Chickpeas. (CalypsoArt/iStock/Getty Images)

Pulse weekly outlook: Chickpeas appear OK, but prices soft

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Canada’s chickpea crop has likely beaten earlier expectations — but poor prices may limit farmer sales come harvest. “We planted the crop in drought conditions” and were preparing for the worst, said Colin Young of Midwest Grain at Moose Jaw, Sask., pointing to the lack of subsoil moisture in key chickpea-growing regions of […] Read more

(Jennifer Blair photo)

Hemp yield uncertain ahead of harvest

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — While Canada’s licensed hemp acreage nearly doubled from 2018 to 2019, yield estimates will remain uncertain until licensed producers report their crops to Health Canada after harvest. “Health Canada, for the first time, will be collecting information on hemp acres that were seeded, rather than hemp acres that were licensed,” said Ted Haney, […] Read more