Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Canada’s tight supplies of canola, wheat and other crops following the 2021 Prairie drought received more confirmation from Statistics Canada with the release of updated stocks data on Tuesday. Canola stocks, as of Dec. 31, 2021, of 7.6 million tonnes were down 43 per cent from the previous year and the tightest since […] Read more
StatsCan confirms tight grain and oilseed stocks
Canadian corn stocks up on year
Drought conditions ease slightly across Prairies
Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Mixed precipitation throughout January helped drought conditions improve across much of the Canadian Prairies during the month, according to the latest Drought Monitor report from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), released Tuesday. Conditions have deteriorated in some areas, however, and the majority of Western Canada was still in some kind of drought state. […] Read more
Pulse weekly outlook: Pulse stocks drop due to drought
Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Statistics Canada’s latest report on stocks of principal field crops clearly demonstrated how much of an effect last summer’s historic drought in Western Canada had on pulse crops. According to the report released Tuesday, last December’s total domestic stocks for dry peas, chickpeas, lentils and soybeans all declined from the year earlier. Those […] Read more
U.S. grains: South American dryness lifts soybeans, corn
Wheat also up
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago soybean futures on Monday rose to eight-month highs, underpinned by concerns over possible reduced supplies from weather-damaged South American harvests. Corn also climbed on South American dryness, while wheat followed higher. Markets are also positioning ahead of world grain and oilseed supply and demand forecasts from the U.S. Department of […] Read more
Year-end profits up for CN, CP despite lower grain handles
Railways' ledgers weather drought, B.C. disasters
Reading Time: 2 minutes Both of Canada’s big two railways were able to improve their overall gross and net in 2021 over 2020 despite a yield-robbing drought and disastrous track and bridge washouts in southern British Columbia. Canadian National Railway (CN) on Tuesday reported 2021 net income of $4.892 billion on $14.477 billion in gross revenue, up from $3.784 […] Read more
Transport strains pile on drought-induced feed shortages
Importing U.S. corn not cheap
Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg | Reuters — Canadian farmers say they are just days away from running out of feed for cattle, due to severe drought last summer damaging crops needed to fatten them over winter and transportation bottlenecks. The drought devastated Prairie pastures and has now forced feedlots in Alberta, the main cattle-producing province, to buy more […] Read more
Manitoba names new ag minister in shuffle
Derek Johnson replaces Ralph Eichler
Reading Time: 2 minutes Another MLA from Manitoba’s Interlake region has been named to handle the province’s farm file in Premier Heather Stefanson’s latest cabinet shuffle and portfolio restructuring. Stefanson, who replaced Brian Pallister as premier in November, on Tuesday named Interlake-Gimli MLA Derek Johnson as minister of agriculture, replacing Lakeside MLA Ralph Eichler, who has been dropped from […] Read more
ICE weekly outlook: Despite declines, signs point to increases for canola
Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Although old-crop canola was falling back midway through the week of Jan. 10, analyst David Derwin of PI Financial in Winnipeg said the oilseed should “grind higher” in weeks to come. “The fundamentals haven’t changed at all — they’re not going to get more canola out of the ground until the fall,” he […] Read more
CBOT weekly outlook: South American dryness main source of support
Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — After corn and the soy complex on the Chicago Board of Trade shot up on Tuesday following the fats and oils as well as the crushing reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), one trader said he isn’t expecting any surprises to come out of USDA’s supply and demand estimates or grain […] Read more
Rock solid: Can anything tame farmland prices?
Drought didn’t do it. Nor has the threat of rising interest rates
Reading Time: 7 minutes Land is in an investment category almost all by itself, says Steve Duff, Ontario’s chief ag economist. “Outside of GICs, there aren’t a whole lot of assets in today’s market that don’t have some downside risk.” It’s little wonder that other market watchers agree. Canada’s farmland prices increased by double-digit percentages every year from 2011 […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
