Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn and soybean futures fell on Friday on expectations for the harvest of both crops to expand in the heart of the Corn Belt, and on investor caution following news of U.S. President Donald Trump’s positive test for COVID-19, analysts said. Wheat futures firmed on concern about dry weather in […] Read more
U.S. grains: Corn, soybeans sag on harvest pressure, investor caution
CBOT December wheat closes higher
Food retail order boom may ease after big quarter, Conagra says
Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters — Conagra Brands put better-than-expected first quarter sales on Thursday down to heavy ordering by retailers worried about the durability of supply chains in the months ahead as a second wave of coronavirus cases takes hold. Shares in the foodstuffs maker dipped as much as three per cent before recovering after chief financial officer […] Read more
Ginseng piling up in Canada despite Chinese demand
Travel restrictions depress new-crop sales
Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg/Hong Kong | Reuters — The pandemic’s crushing effect on international travel has grounded Canadian exports of ginseng, a root widely used in Asia to treat everything from the common cold to impotency, at a time when health is top of consumers’ minds. Canada is the world’s second-largest ginseng exporter after China, with most of […] Read more
Plant-based protein maker Roquette sees short-term COVID-19 impact
Demand could accelerate second Canadian plant
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters — The plant-based protein market has seen a slowdown in new product launches and lower sales in restaurants and cafeterias due to COVID-19 but benefited from more people cooking at home and trying new products, French manufacturer Roquette said. The market for plant-based protein such as meat-free burgers has surged in the […] Read more
CBOT weekly outlook: Harvest pressure to weigh on soy, corn
Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Seasonal harvest pressure may weigh on soybean and corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade over the next month, but there is also still good support on the other side, according to an analyst. “The biggest trouble now for the market is the harvest pressure coming in,” said Tom Lilja of Progressive […] Read more
Throne speech commits to rural broadband improvement
Rural health care, water management also on deck
Reading Time: 2 minutes The federal minority Liberal government is promising job creation, better rural internet access and a commitment to combating climate change in its newly revealed legislative plans. In an ambitious throne speech delivered Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s party committed itself to implementing universal child care and extending or enhancing many of the economic measures put […] Read more
U.S. grains: Wheat, soy, corn fall sharply on fund selling
'It is basically risk-off across the board'
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade soybean, corn and wheat futures plunged on Monday as concerns about fresh coronavirus-driven lockdowns due to rising global case counts sparked a wave of risk-off trades. The grains, led by a 3.7 per cent drop in wheat that marked its biggest daily percentage decline since August 2019, […] Read more
Thinking ‘tomorrow’
Saskatchewan grain producer Kristjan Hebert looks for COVID-19 insights to make his operation even more productive
Reading Time: 4 minutes While Kristjan Hebert’s working life hasn’t changed drastically through COVID-19, the pandemic has helped refine his ideas on how the grain industry could move forward from here. Mainly, it’s convinced him even more than before that farming is a people business. “I still feel that people are our number one asset,” he says. “If we […] Read more
Saskatchewan extends WLPIP premium rebate if needed
Rebate to offset premium prices, if above pre-COVID levels
Reading Time: 2 minutes Saskatchewan’s temporary subsidy against price jumps in premiums for the Western Livestock Price Insurance Program (WLPIP) will continue when needed to the end of 2020. Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp. (SCIC), which administers the program in that province, announced Tuesday the WLPIP premium rebate is extended to Dec. 31, from its previous end date of Sept. […] Read more
Pandemic planning: Groundwork
What will Canada's food system look like as we roll toward 2021? And how will you be able to build on those changes to make the family farm more resilient, more sustainable, and a better business?
Reading Time: 8 minutes Resilience has two halves. The part that automatically comes to mind is the way a truly resilient business can take a punch without shutting down. It can survive a bout of bad weather, bad markets, a black swan. But there’s something else too. It isn’t just that a resilient farm keeps breathing. It’s that a […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
