Reading Time: 7 minutes Some farm managers love to spend the winter poring over their financial statements and analyzing all ratios and indicators and how they’ve changed over time. Others would rather be outside working with cattle or at conferences learning the latest disease management techniques. If you’re not in the first category, your banker might know more about […] Read more
A guide to farm financial ratios
Long lists of available financial ratios can be overwhelming. Here are three financial ratios that matter to bankers and how understanding them can strengthen your farm’s financial future
Shifting tides bring change to agriculture
Summer Series: Will short-term pain cause long-term gain for Canada’s ag industry?
Reading Time: 4 minutes Warren Buffet once said, “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.” Well, the tide is going out in primary producer agriculture. Who will be left with clothes on? Is the shifting tide due to the highest cost of production ever? The changing policy discussions? The geopolitical factors that come […] Read more
Merit Foods pays off operating lender, no deal yet for plant
Plant-based protein processor in receivership since March
Reading Time: 3 minutes A Winnipeg pea and canola protein processor in receivership since this spring remains mothballed for now with no firm buyer — but has paid off one of its three secured creditors. Merit Functional Foods, which entered receivership March 1 after just two years’ operation, has sold all its remaining finished and raw inventory and directed […] Read more
FCC offers new credit line against ‘current economic environment’
Ag lender to waive loan processing fees
Reading Time: 2 minutes Farm Credit Canada’s recent outreach to specific agrifood sectors hit by unusual environmental conditions has now extended to those hit by the broader “economic environment.” The federal ag lender on Tuesday said it will offer an unsecured credit line of up to $500,000 with loan processing fees waived, “to help producers, agribusinesses and agri-food operations […] Read more
CFA seeks continued ag support in next federal budget
Federation also presses for Buy Canadian campaign, processing support
Reading Time: 3 minutes Federal budget consultations are underway, with agricultural groups lobbying the government to support the industry further in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on Jan. 25 launched pre-budget consultations and since then, her schedule has involved several meetings with stakeholders. “We want to hear ideas from Canadians, from all walks of […] Read more
Trump administration mulls industry-wide biofuel waiver
Comment period would end after Trump's exit
Reading Time: 2 minutes New York | Reuters — The Trump administration is considering requests from the oil refining industry and its backers for a sweeping nationwide waiver to exempt them from their obligations to blend biofuels, a measure they argue would help them weather the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. U.S. President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency […] Read more
U.S. fuel industry frazzled as EPA misses biofuel volumes deadline
COVID-19 fallout complicates process
Reading Time: 2 minutes New York | Reuters — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was set to miss a deadline Monday to announce how much renewable fuel the nation’s refiners must blend into their fuel mix next year, raising uncertainty in the fuel market and prompting one biofuel association to threaten to take the agency to court. Under federal […] Read more
BMO regroups ag banking business
Ag-focused national banking team put in place
Reading Time: 2 minutes With COVID-19 serving to “accelerate” changes in the industry, BMO Bank of Montreal says it has reset its farm banking work under the oversight of an expanded national agriculture and agribusiness banking team. BMO announced the new team approach Oct. 14, describing it as “a national team of agriculture banking specialists — team members with […] Read more
Bayer launches carbon capture pilot for U.S., Brazilian farmers
Chem and seed firm expects to expand plan to other countries
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Bayer launched a pilot program in the United States and Brazil on Tuesday that will pay farmers for capturing carbon in cropland soils, making it the latest agriculture company to capitalize on environmental initiatives. The company seeks to enroll about 1,200 row crop growers in its Bayer Carbon Initiative in the […] Read more
Investors pile into Bayer bond to pay settlement charges
Reading Time: < 1 minute Amsterdam | Reuters — Investors piled into a Bayer bond on Wednesday that will help pay for a long-negotiated settlement of U.S. lawsuits claiming its widely-used herbicide Roundup caused cancer. Demand for the four-tranche bond sale, whose proceeds will include the litigation payments, exceeded 17.5 billion euros, nearly three times the six billion euros (C$9.15 […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
