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Early harvest pressures Prairie barley prices

Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — Barley prices in Western Canada are falling as an early harvest is weighing on values. “Prices have moderated here,” said Allen Pirness of Market Place Commodities Ltd. Lethbridge, Alta. The surprise rally from last week ended as quickly as it began. Prices which started last week at about C$250 per tonne were […] Read more

New GM technique promises to speed new crop development

Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada — Scientists in the United States say they have found a new method for inserting genes into crops that could speed up development of new varieties. “Making genetic improvements that were difficult or impossible before will be much easier because we can now insert not just one or two genes, but multiple genes […] Read more


Corn and soybeans sitting firm ahead of USDA report

Corn and soybeans sitting firm ahead of USDA report

Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada – Corn and soybean markets at the Chicago Board of Trade have been strengthening ahead of Friday’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report from the United States Department of Agriculture. “There’s been a lot of really big yield estimates we’ve been throwing around that people are starting to walk back a little […] Read more

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Southern Alberta crops struggle, but rest of province near five-year index

Reading Time: 2 minutes [UPDATED: Aug. 10, 2018]* CNS Canada — Farmers in Alberta have just started harvest, but early yield reports are showing reductions in southern areas. Dryland crops in southern Alberta are projected to come in at 74.6 per cent of the five-year index, according to Alberta’s Agriculture Financial Services Corp. Daniel Graham, manager of business risk […] Read more



Wheat being loaded onto a cargo ship in Vancouver in 2011. (File photo: Reuters/Ben Nelms)

Canadian grain exports hit new record in 2017/18: CGC

Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada – Total exports of Canada’s major grains and oilseeds hit a new record in 2017/18 (Aug/Jul), as sharp increases in wheat and barley more than made up for a decline in canola sales, according to the last weekly report from the Canadian Grain Commission for the recently finished crop year. Total exports of […] Read more


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Dry weather not a problem for malt barley crop, so far

Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada – The prairie malting barley crop is faring reasonable well in the hot, dry weather, but crop watchers will have a better idea of protein content in a couple weeks. “We’ve yet to see what this crop is. I think we’re a little early yet. Indications are that it could be a little […] Read more

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Feed barley defies expectations as prices rally

Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada – Feed barley prices have no business being where they are, based on supply-demand fundamentals, but that hasn’t quelled the rally. With prices for old crop sitting a premium over new crop, most in the industry expected old crop would gradually decline over summer and the two would eventually converge. But dry weather […] Read more


Foreign control in the oil and gas extraction sector is up more than 15 per cent since 2012.  Photo: File

Foreign control in Canadian ag sector still relatively low

Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada – The percentage of foreign control, as a percentage of total assets, in the Canadian agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting sector was 1.6 per cent in 2016, according to data recently released by Statistics Canada. While that’s up from 1.1 per cent in 2012, it compares with foreign control in all industries (excluding […] Read more