(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Feed weekly outlook: Grains pressured by lower demand

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Bids for feed grains have backed off previous highs as feedlots in Western Canada are covered into the New Year. “Now they’re bidding January and forward,” said Allen Pirness of Market Place Commodities in Lethbridge. Bids for feed barley and feed wheat delivered from January to March were around $220 per tonne, according […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Klassen: Feeder cattle market under weight of imports

Reading Time: 2 minutes Compared to last week, western Canadian feeder cattle markets traded $5 lower to $2 higher. It’s that time of year when most feedlots are carrying sufficient numbers and buyers are hesitant to increase ownership unless they can see profitability. Auction market volumes contained weaned and unweaned calves over the past week; premiums returned for feeders […] Read more


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

(Country Guide file photo)

Prairie cash wheat: CWRS prices up, durum largely down

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Wheat bids in Western Canada were mostly steady to higher for the week ended Thursday. There were gains for Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) and Canada Prairie Spring Red (CPSR) wheat. However, Canada Western Amber Durum (CWAD) wheat was steady to lower. The Canadian dollar gained six-10ths of a cent during the week. […] Read more





Rail cars in Vancouver. (Photo courtesy/copyright Canadian National Railway)

Grain groups seek ‘essential service’ status for rail

Reading Time: 3 minutes With Canadian National Railway’s conductors and yard workers headed back to work, several Canadian grain groups now want to head off any future job action in the rail sector. CN and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference announced separately Tuesday they had reached a tentative agreement ending an eight-day strike by over 3,000 unionized staff. The […] Read more

Screenshot from a video posted on YouTube showing animal rights activists entering a turkey barn at the Jumbo Valley Hutterite Colony on Labour Day.

Charges laid in Alberta turkey farm occupation

Reading Time: < 1 minute A high-profile occupation last month by protestors at an Alberta Hutterite colony’s turkey farm has led to criminal charges against four people. RCMP on Wednesday announced charges of one count each of break and enter to commit mischief for a 46-year-old Edmonton man, a 24-year-old woman from Pincher Creek and a 28-year-old woman and 16-year-old […] Read more


The USDA building in Washington, D.C. (Art Wager/iStock/Getty Images)

Most oilseed estimates down in USDA’s October outlook

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its monthly oil crops outlook on Tuesday featuring reductions in global rapeseed and sunflower production and U.S. soybeans. USDA estimated global rapeseed production at 68.6 million tonnes, a decline of one million, with the lion’s share of the losses in Canada. Canadian production for 2019-20 was […] Read more

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Klassen: Adverse weather tempers feeder market

Reading Time: 2 minutes Compared to last week, western Canadian feeder cattle markets traded $3-$5 lower. Excessive snow in Alberta and ongoing rains across Manitoba and Saskatchewan set a negative tone. The market appeared to incorporate a risk discount, although many auction barns had limited numbers on offer. Buyers once again focused on local cattle and avoided transportation over […] Read more