The company reported 23,088 carloads during the month, which was also a new February record. The company moved 2.395 million tonnes of grain in January 2026 with 24,688 carloads — both monthly records for January.

“This is the second straight monthly Canadian grain record and it continues a strong start to 2026 as our railroaders work safely and efficiently with our supply chain collaborators to move a record grain crop across Western Canada,” said Elizabeth Hucker, CPKC vice-president of sales and marketing bulk, in the news release.

CPKC transported more than 17.1 MMT of Canadian grain and grain products through the first 30 weeks of the 2025/26 marketing year, hitting the largest totals since the record setting 2020/21 crop year.

The volume of Canadian grain and grain products moving on CPKC tracks have exceeded the average supply chain capacity targets outlined in the company’s annual grain service plan in multiple weeks in 2025/26.

CPKC said it was “critical that all supply chain participants, including customer loading facilities and terminal operators loading grain into vessels at ports, operate at full capacity to sustain this strong momentum.”

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StatCan published its major grain deliveries report for August 2025 on Sept. 25. In total, 3.588 million tonnes were delivered compared to 4.329 million in August 2024. The agency noted that tariffs placed on Canadian goods headed to the United States may have an impact on deliveries.

All wheat deliveries in August totaled 2.259 million tonnes compared to 2.321 million one year earlier. For durum, 279,584 tonnes were delivered last month, up from 244,560 tonnes in August 2024.

Canola deliveries fell below one million tonnes for the first time since August 2023, dropping to their lowest monthly total since May 2022. StatCan reported 621,555 tonnes of the oilseed were delivered in August, compared to 1.32 million tonnes in August of last year.

August barley deliveries were 379,238 tonnes, slightly more than the 375,071 tonnes delivered in August 2024. For oats, 278,097 tonnes were delivered, up from 267,271 tonnes one year earlier. Rye deliveries were up from 29,375 tonnes in August 2024 to 38,098 last month. Flaxseed deliveries were down from 15,127 tonnes in August 2024 to 11,953 tonnes a year later.

Saskatchewan provided 36.6 per cent of all deliveries, followed by Manitoba with 22.2 per cent and Alberta at 20.4 per cent.

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Total wheat deliveries of more than 3.24 million tonnes improved 34.3 per cent, while durum jumped more than 141 per cent at almost 542,000 tonnes.

Oats were also significantly higher, rising 66.3 per cent at almost 301,150 tonnes.

Canola was the second largest delivery, with 1.92 million tonnes of the oilseed delivered to commercial positions in April, up 31.9 per cent from a year ago.

At just short of 355,600 tonnes, barley incurred the only decline, down 7.2 per cent from last April.

(Source: Producer deliveries of major grains, Statistics Canada)

Grain          Apr2024     Apr2025     Up/Down

All Grains    4,468,523   5,857,662    +31.09%

Total Wheat   2,414,614   3,243,354    +34.32%

Durum Only      224,814     541,977   +141.08%

Oats            181,099     301,149    +66.29%

Barley          383,188     355,580     -7.20%

Rye              17,254      13,744    -20.34%

Flax             20,020      29,332    +45.60%

Canola        1,870,670   1,462,404    -21.82%

The post Grain deliveries up on year in April: StatCan appeared first on Country Guide.

“Bartlett’s acquisition of Ceres is vindication of the strategy we set out to achieve 12 years ago, which is to build the company into one of North America’s leading merchandisers of durum, oats, spring wheat and canola,” said Ceres board chair Jim Vanasek in a news release.

Why it matters: Ceres has operations in Manitoba and Saskatchewan

Ceres is a Minnesota-based grain buyer and logistics company with locations in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. It also owns Delmar Commodities, based in Winkler, Man., and Jordan Mills in Roland, Man.

Bartlett is headquartered in Kansas City with locations in the American Midwest and East Coast, and Mexico. It is part of the Savage group of companies.

“We see incredible potential in combining our networks,” said Savage president and CEO Jeff Roberts.

Ceres’ network and assets are a “natural complement to the Bartlett business,” said Bartlett executive director Bob Knief in a separate news release.

Its assets include a combined grain and oilseed storage of about 45 million bushels.

“We see incredible potential in combining our networks

Bartlett has agreed to purchase Ceres at US$4.50 per share, which would value the sale at roughly US$140 million. The transaction is subject to court approval and closing conditions.

The post Bartlett to buy Ceres Global Ag Corp appeared first on Country Guide.

Total deliveries tallied more than 4.67 million tonnes last month, compared to 3.70 million a year ago. Of that, the largest deliveries were for total wheat at about 2.69 million tonnes versus 2.21 million the previous December.

That broke down to about 2.14 million tonnes of wheat excluding durum and 547,422 tonnes of durum. A year ago, those came in at 1.95 million and 253,927 tonnes.

December canola deliveries exceeded 1.51 million tonnes last month compared to 1.08 million a year ago.

There were also increases for oats and barley, at 196,344 and 248,876 tonnes, respectively.

Rye and flax deliveries stepped back in December, with 8,110 tonnes of rye and 11,942 of flax. The same time last year they amounted to 8,710 and 15,142 tonnes, respectively.

Source: Statistics Canada (tonnes)

Grain            Dec23          Dec24          Change

All Grains     3,704,230      4,668,801        +26.0%

Total Wheat    2,205,036      2,688,920        +21.9%

Wheat Only     1,951,108      2,141,499         +9.8%

Durum            253,927        547,422       +115.6%

Oats             175,671        196,344        +11.8%

Barley           219,775        248,876        +13.2%

Rye                8,710          8,110         -7.4%

Flax              15,142         11,942        -26.8%

Canola         1,079,895      1,514,609        +40.3%

The post Upswings in most December grain deliveries appeared first on Country Guide.

Darwin Sobkow was announced Jan. 6 as the company’s new chief executive officer, effective Jan. 10 with the formal retirement of Curt Vossen, the company’s CEO since 1995.

Sobkow served as chief operations officer since 2020 for the Winnipeg-based, privately-held firm, an arm of family-owned James Richardson & Sons.

The company’s ag industry holdings include a network of 55 Prairie grain elevators; port terminals in B.C., Ontario and Quebec; canola crush plants at Lethbridge and Yorkton; oat milling facilities in the three Prairie provinces and one each in the U.S. and U.K.; several further-processing plants; and 93 Prairie ag retail outlets supplying seed and crop inputs to farmers in the region.

During a nearly 30-year stint as CEO, Vossen oversaw much of that expansion, including the acquisition of more grain elevators, mainly during other Prairie grain handlers’ mergers and divestitures—as well as acquisitions such as U.S. durum miller Italgrani USA and the U.S.-based Wesson cooking oil brand.

“Under his leadership and bold vision, Richardson International evolved into a world-class organization with expertise across its vertically integrated agribusiness and food processing operations,” the company said in its Jan. 6 announcement.

Richardson noted Sobkow, who started with Richardson in 1999 as executive vice-president for agribusiness operations and processing, was “instrumental” in those acquisitions and integrations.

His “operational expertise and deep industry knowledge will guide Richardson International into its next phase of growth,” the company said.

The post New Richardson CEO steps in appeared first on Country Guide.

Nearly 800,000 tonnes of grain moved through the port on the northern shores of Lake Superior in November, bringing the year-to-date total to 6.818 million tonnes, according to a report. That compares with 6.027 million tonnes at the same point a year ago and comes in about 500,000 tonnes above the five-year average for grain movement.

Potash shipments were running at their strongest level in 40 years, with 259,385 tonnes shipped in November. That brought the year-to-date total to 1.676 million tonnes up 11 per cent from 2023.

A total of 432 vessels have visited the port this year, which compares with 388 a year ago. There were 169 foreign ocean going ‘salties’ through November, up from 151 at the same time last year.

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“We acknowledge that reality television aims to entertain, but it is crucial that such portrayals do not inadvertently glamorize or normalize serious risks,” said Andrea Lear, CASA’s Chief Executive Officer in a news release yesterday. “We urge media producers to consult with safety experts and consider the real-life consequences of their depicted tasks.”

In fifth episode of the show’s current season, contestants are made to climb into grain trailers that are anywhere from two-thirds to three-quarters of the way full of oats. They then had to dig through the grain to find a hidden object.

Contestants were shown wading and digging through the grain for a prolonged period.

“It’s pretty deep,” a contestant said at one point.

CASA pointed out that wading in deep grain could lead to become partially or fully engulfed in grain, which can have deadly consequences. Between 2011 and 2020, 27 people died due to asphyxiation in grain or soil, the organization said.

In 2015, three children died while playing on a truck loaded with canola. According to a CBC article from the time, the girls fell into the back of the truck and suffocated after they became buried in the canola.

Since 2017, CASA has been working to raise awareness of the dangers of grain entrapment and has trained firefighters on how to rescue people trapped in grain.

In its first season, The Amazing Race Canada had contestants perform a similar task in which they searched through trailers full of lentils.

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“We are not just expanding our infrastructure; we are investing in the future of Canadian agriculture and the baking industry,” CEO John Heimbecker said in news release.

P&H Milling Group and Winnipeg-based grain handler Parrish & Heimbecker, Limited (P&H) said the expansion comes in response to “ever-growing demands” from the baking industry.

Along with a third flour mill, which is scheduled to begin construction in March, the company will add two storage silos which it said would would handle feed ingredients like soymeal, distillers dried grains, and wheat for the mills.

The existing P&H Hamilton flour mill opened in 2017, and construction began on a second mill in 2019, which opened in 2020. This doubled its capacity, the news release said.

Further expansion “reaffirms our dedication to meeting the needs of both our valued agricultural partners and our business partners,” Heimbecker said.

The post P&H plans Hamilton site expansion appeared first on Country Guide.

“This strike notice provides for time for the company to come back to negotiations and address members concerns,” said Steve Torgerson, general secretary of the Grain and General Services Union (GSU), in a Jan. 2 news release.

Yesterday, the union issued Viterra a 72-hour notice that they intend to strike as early as 2:00 pm on Jan. 5.

GSU members from Viterra Country Operations and Maintenance and Viterra’s Regina head office have been negotiating for “fair wages, improved work-life balance, and workplace respect,” for more than a year, the union said. The two unions represent 436 workers, Viterra Canada said in a Jan. 2 news release.

Union members voted “overwhelmingly” to reject Viterra’s final offer, a Dec. 15 news release from GSU said, citing a lack of real wage increases.

Both parties are scheduled to resume bargaining today and tomorrow with a government appointed mediator, Viterra said in the Jan. 2 statement.

Viterra may consider a lockout if an agreement can’t be reached, the company said.

“We are committed to the collective bargaining process and remain cautiously optimistic that we will be able to arrive at an agreement with the GSU”, said Jordan Jakubowski, Viterra Canada’s vice president of human resources.

The company has contingency plans in place to minimize disruptions to customers, the statement said.

—Geralyn Wichers is associate digital editor of AGCanada.com. She writes from southeastern Manitoba.

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