Reading Time: < 1 minute Cairo | Reuters — Egypt’s agriculture ministry will allow wheat imports with up to 0.05 percent levels of ergot, a common grains fungus, it said on Feb. 3, reversing a zero tolerance policy that prompted traders to boycott the state’s wheat tender this week. The supply ministry and the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) […] Read more
Egypt to accept wheat with 0.05 per cent ergot
Egypt’s ergot saga leaves wheat traders in limbo
Reading Time: 3 minutes Reuters — One Egyptian official’s tough stance on wheat imports carrying a fungus that wreaked havoc in the Middle Ages is baffling global grain traders and putting a spotlight on policy-making disarray in the world’s biggest purchaser of the commodity. Alarm bells began ringing in Egypt when a 63,000-tonne wheat shipment from France arrived in […] Read more
Egypt moves to clarify ergot rules on wheat imports
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Egypt’s supply ministry moved to clarify rules on wheat imports on Thursday, saying it would allow shipments with traces of the grain fungus ergot to enter the country. Wheat traders have been concerned that uncertainty over payment and inspection terms in Egypt, the world’s biggest wheat importer, would dampen export demand. The problem […] Read more
Egypt’s new wheat requirement could delay supplies
Reading Time: 3 minutes Cairo/Abu Dhabi | Reuters — Egypt, the world’s largest purchaser of wheat, has imposed restrictive import requirements, an agricultural authority official told Reuters, alarming traders who threatened to boycott tenders for the politically sensitive commodity. The new requirement — for a complete absence of ergot, a common fungus found in grains — could disrupt the […] Read more
New hybrid rye for Ontario
Brasetto marks a big new opportunity for a sector that’s hungry for good news
Reading Time: 4 minutes Cereal production in Ontario has taken a definite hit in the past couple of years. Winter wheat acres have dropped off, mostly because of poor planting conditions in the fall of 2013 and 2014, and other cereals, including oats and barley, have lost momentum and are now grown mainly by farmers who like them either […] Read more
Grain grading, and the science behind falling number
The test is an effective way to determine sprout damage in wheat
Reading Time: 3 minutes Pre-harvest sprouting or germination of wheat triggered by wet weather during the end stage of new-crop maturity can lead to poor end-product quality. The falling number test is one effective and objective way to determine the extent of sprout damage in a wheat sample. “Farmers are especially interested in falling number when they come to […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
