Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Australia and New Zealand say they’ve stepped up protections against foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) at their international airports following an outbreak of the disease in Indonesia. Travellers arriving in Australia from Indonesia will now be asked to walk across sanitation foot mats at airports, the latest measure to ramp up Australia’s biosecurity measures, the […] Read more
Indonesia’s foot-and-mouth outbreak prompts international measures
'Viral fragments' detected in meats brought into Australia
Australian canola production heading downward, but still sizeable
New second-biggest harvest expected, USDA predicts
Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Despite canola production in Australia being set to drop 26 per cent in 2022-23, the country’s farmers are still projected to harvest the second largest crop, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s attaché in Canberra. In the attaché’s report, released Monday, canola production for the coming crop year was projected to be […] Read more
Pulse weekly outlook: India removes tariffs on most lentil imports
Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Lentil suppliers in Canada have received a bit of a boost from a surprise policy decision overseas. India’s government on Feb. 12 suspended all tariffs on most lentil imports, which will reduce costs for its two largest exporters, Canada and Australia, to ship the crop to the country. The tariff removal is not […] Read more
Pulse weekly outlook: Lentil prices decline, may shift in spring
Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Prices for Canadian lentils, along with other pulses in the country, have slightly declined since the start of 2022. However, one pulse buyer thinks the next few months can recharge the market. Lionel Ector, president of Diefenbaker Spice and Pulse at Elbow, Sask., explained that a good Australian lentil harvest in December has […] Read more
Winning the barley battle
Australia’s barley exporters are getting a global reputation for out-hustling Canada
Reading Time: 5 minutes Recently I was eating my breakfast in Sydney, listening to the Australian barley industry make its pitch to potential buyers in Ecuador. The pitch was being made over Zoom, and it was all in Spanish and English with simultaneous translation. Such is the approach of Australia’s barley growers and their representative groups in an environment […] Read more
Young, and (not) feeling stuck
You’ve gone back to the farm. You’re eager to make real decisions. You feel ready for it too, if only Mom and Dad would let you. So how do you convince them?
Reading Time: 8 minutes We begin with a happy story. It was 3 a.m. and 18-year-old Ryan Galbraith was sitting in a seeder in a field in the middle of Western Australia when he realized all he wanted was to be a farmer. “It was one of those moments — you’re just out there enjoying it, you’re tired but […] Read more
More competition for Canada from Down Under
Australia has learned how to grow its grain exports. Is Canada paying attention?
Reading Time: 5 minutes I remember one Christmas Eve walking in minus 38, and then a week later saw the mercury hit plus 46 on New Year’s Day. Such are the outcomes of a 14-hour plane journey between Canada and Australia. But despite the different weather, I will tell anyone who will listen that Australia and Canada have much […] Read more
U.S. grains: CBOT wheat nears two-month low
Corn declines; soy ends firm
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures fell nearly four per cent on Wednesday and European wheat fell three per cent as a bumper Australian harvest and signs of continued competition from Black Sea supplies added to technical pressure, traders and analysts said. Corn followed wheat lower while soybean futures ended modestly higher after monthly […] Read more
U.S. grains: Wheat hits one-month low on USDA projections
Corn, soybean futures rise
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters –– U.S. wheat futures slumped to a one-month low on Thursday after the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast larger-than-expected global production and stocks in a monthly report that reinforced a recent spate of bearish news. Corn and soybean futures tracked wheat lower, but promptly rebounded from their lows on speculative and technical […] Read more
CBOT weekly outlook: Markets ‘resilient’ in face of Omicron
Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — While fears over the newly-identified Omicron COVID-19 variant caused a sharp downturn Friday in oil and equities, crop prices on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) were not as hard hit. “This new COVID-19 variant has got some traders spooked in the market here in thinking there might be some economic slowdown and […] Read more