Reading Time: 3 minutes Global trading house Cargill said on Tuesday it plans to cut around five per cent of its staff, or about 8,000 jobs after revenue slumped in its most recent fiscal year as crop prices hit multi-year lows.
Commodities trading giant Cargill plans to cut around 8,000 jobs
Handlers focus on keeping grain moving despite COVID-19
Grain companies, Canadian Grain Commission working but unsure of future
Reading Time: 3 minutes Canada’s grain companies are committed to keeping grain moving to domestic and export customers, but how the spread of COVID-19 might affect business is still an unknown, says Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the Western Grain Elevator Association. “We are are going to do everything in our power to keep grain moving at this time,” […] Read more
Grain Commission’s chief announces retirement
AAFC's review of Grain Act, and of CGC's future, continues
Reading Time: 3 minutes The Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) is seeking a new chief commissioner. Patti Miller, who has held the position for three years, announced Tuesday to CGC staff that she will retire June 26. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) “will be launching an open, transparent and merit-based process to find a new commissioner as soon as possible,” […] Read more
CN reports grain movement back at pre-strike pace
Reading Time: 2 minutes Canadian National Railway’s grain shipping is back to its pre-strike pace, the railway says. “By the second week of December (week 19), CN returned to shipping at peak levels, as well as taking on all customer hopper demand for the second and third weeks of December,” Montreal-based CN said in a release Thursday. “Despite a […] Read more
Elevator operators seek quick end to CN strike
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Western Grain Elevator Association (WGEA) wants grain shipments on Canadian National Railway (CN) to resume as soon as possible. “It has a major impact for every day that we’re not moving grain on CN,” WGEA executive director Wade Sobkowich said in an interview Tuesday. “A federal mediator has been appointed and that’s a step […] Read more
Canola Council resets course for ‘efficiencies’
Reading Time: 3 minutes Facing new limits on available funding, Canada’s canola value chain organization plans to refocus its work on its “core strengths” and collaborate with other players. The Canola Council of Canada on Wednesday announced a revised work plan, coming out of a “priorities review” undertaken after one of Canada’s biggest grain companies called a halt to […] Read more
Grain elevators brace for high-volume shipping season
Reading Time: 3 minutes CNS Canada — Grain companies in Western Canada are bracing for another high-volume year, as questions about the system’s ability to handle that amount continue to plague the industry. Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the Western Grain Elevator Association, said despite the heat stress that has hit many crops this year, grain companies expect this […] Read more
U.S. grain firms set up co-ops in tax law’s wake
Reading Time: 3 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. agricultural merchants are scrambling to register themselves as cooperatives after a blunder in the country’s new tax law gave farmers a tax break for selling grains to co-ops rather than private firms. Private crop handlers — including the “big four” merchants Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus — […] Read more
U.S. Congress near deal on tax law’s impact on grain market
Reading Time: 2 minutes Washington | Reuters — U.S. lawmakers are close to resolving a problem with the new federal tax law that gives grain co-operatives an unintended market edge over private companies, but have had a hard time getting agreement among members of the farm sector, a Republican senator said Thursday. A provision in the Republican tax overhaul […] Read more
CORRECTION, June 22, 2015
Reading Time: < 1 minute Due to an editing error, incorrect information appeared in the article “Spreading the blame” (Country Guide, May/June 2015, western edition, pgs. 26-28), an investigation by Richard Kamchen into the growing recognition that the railways aren’t the only ones who deserve their share of the blame for last year’s grain transportation fiasco across the West. Grain […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
