A gaucho drives a carriage through the pampas (lowland plains), a primary farming and ranching region of Argentina. (CIA.gov)

Argentina’s soybean season ‘dead’

Reading Time: 3 minutes Buenos Aires | Reuters — Hope has withered for any recovery in Argentine soy yields hit by a four-month drought that shows no signs of abating, farmers and analysts said Monday, prompting China to step in to fill the gap in soymeal exports from the world’s No. 1 supplier. The dryness that has blighted the […] Read more


Late-season snowstorm brings Prairies moisture

Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — After a winter spent waiting for snow, farmers across the southern Prairies were happy when the forecast was right and Western Canada received a late winter snowstorm. “We’ve heard moisture’s coming before and it doesn’t show up or it goes around us. So when it started snowing and it started adding up […] Read more

U.S. grains: Wheat eases on stable crop conditions after price surge

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. winter wheat futures fell on Tuesday as crop conditions stabilized in the dry Plains growing region and buying interest waned following a surge that brought prices to an eight-week high last week, traders said. Chicago Board of Trade May wheat futures eased 2-1/4 cents to $5.07 per bushel, trimming declines […] Read more


Hard white winter wheat growing in North Carolina in 2010. (Dave Marshall photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

U.S. grains: CBOT wheat notches fifth day of gains

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade soft red winter wheat futures jumped 3.3 per cent on Wednesday to their highest level in more than seven months, breaking through key technical barriers on support from concerns about crop development in the U.S. Plains, traders said. The gains in the wheat market spilled over into […] Read more

(Lisa Guenther photo)

CBOT weekly outlook: Soy, corn traders shift gaze to U.S.

Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — As February ends, attention is shifting from South America to the U.S. for traders at the Chicago Board of Trade. “We’re about to flip the calendar into March, when people start paying more attention to the conditions in the U.S.,” said Rich Feltes of RJ O’Brien in Chicago. Attention for the past […] Read more


(Mark Wilson photo courtesy Louis Dreyfus Co.)

U.S. grains: Soybeans near one-year high

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures neared a one-year high on Friday as concerns mounted about crop losses from a searing drought in Argentina, the world’s biggest exporter of soymeal and soyoil. Argentina, which is also the world’s No. 3 supplier of soybeans and corn, has been grappling with dry weather since late last […] Read more



(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Saskatchewan, B.C. areas up for livestock tax deferrals

Reading Time: 2 minutes Livestock producers in several more parched municipalities in Saskatchewan and British Columbia will be able to defer income from sales of animals on their 2017 tax returns. The federal government on Tuesday announced its final list of designated regions for 2017, including 20 more municipalities in Saskatchewan and seven in British Columbia. The initial list, […] Read more

(USDA.gov via Flickr)

Southern Plains drought slows U.S. cattle herd growth

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Encroaching drought in the U.S. southern Plains contributed to the smallest rise in the nation’s cattle population in three years, analysts said after the government’s semi-annual cattle inventory report on Wednesday. Insufficient moisture in parts of Texas and Oklahoma, along with areas of persistent dryness in the northern Plains, hurt winter […] Read more