Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn futures fell more than one per cent on Tuesday, following broad declines in commodities led by sagging crude oil futures, analysts said. Wheat futures fell about two per cent, retreating after Monday’s short-covering rally, and soybeans were also lower. Chicago Board of Trade December corn settled down 4-3/4 cents […] Read more
U.S. grains: Corn, wheat follow broad commodities weakness
U.S. livestock: Live cattle climb on technical buying
Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures closed higher Tuesday on technical buying, halting a four-session slide that drove the benchmark April contract to a two-week low a day earlier. But the contract closed well off its session high, paring gains as cattle traders reacted to a firmer U.S. dollar and declines […] Read more
A co-trustee’s responsibility
Guide Legal: If asked to serve as a co-trustee, be aware that acting as a rubber stamp will not protect you if things go wrong
Reading Time: 4 minutes When drafting a will, parents often name more than one of their children as the trustees of their estate. Given the dynamics between siblings, it is not uncommon for one child to take on a more active role than another in administering the estate. However, in a recent decision, the Court of Appeal for Ontario […] Read more
Ag sector equity rises in 2016
Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada –– Agriculture sector equity rose slightly in 2016, according to a Statistics Canada balance sheet on the industry. Farm sector equity totaled $500.3 billion for the year ending Dec. 31. That’s a 4.5 per cent increase, or $21.6 billion, from the same period a year ago, according to the report released Wednesday. Farm […] Read more
U.S. grains: Wheat ends up three per cent
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures climbed about three per cent on Wednesday on a mix of technical buying and enthusiasm over a larger-than-expected wheat purchase by top global importer Egypt a day earlier, traders said. Corn and soybeans also rose, supported by fund investment at the start of a new month and carry-over […] Read more
U.S. grains: Fund short-covering lifts grain/soy complex
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean and corn futures climbed to six-week highs on Tuesday on fund-driven buying as the grain complex shrugged off weakness in global equity markets and crude oil, traders said. But wheat futures settled flat as all three commodities pared gains by the close. At the Chicago Board of Trade, the […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Equities spike drives CME live cattle limit-up
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters –– Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures climbed to their three cents/lb. daily price limit on Thursday following a turnaround in crude oil prices that helped pare recent deep U.S. stock market losses. February and April live cattle closed at 130.25 and 131.175 cents, respectively. Live cattle’s trading limit will be expanded […] Read more
Farm kids: Don’t worry about wages
Reading Time: 2 minutes A new study by Cornell University agricultural economists says family members who work on the family dairy farm make $22,000 less annually than comparable hired managers, but are handsomely compensated with “socioemotional” wealth. “While $22,000 seems like a large penalty, there are non-financial rewards they experience working for the family business,” Loren Tauer, professor at […] Read more
Finance metrics you may not have thought of — measuring financial risk
AME Management Part 3: How balance sheets and operating statements help determine your exposure to risk
Reading Time: 3 minutes The first two columns in this three-part series focused on using the operating statement to monitor operating efficiency and to diagnose operating problems. In this column, we turn to the interaction between the balance sheet and operating statement to identify and manage financial risk. This is very topical currently because of concerns that lower grain […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
