Reading Time: 5 minutes When the Canadian Wheat Board lost its monopoly in 2012, Blair Rutter predicted that it would take 10 years to adjust to an open market system. “Moving from a centrally planned system to a market economy, it takes a while,” the executive director at the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association said in an interview. “We […] Read more
An open market is still a work in progress
A truly open market requires transparency of information, but the veil is still being lifted
FarmLink picks up mobile management app
Reading Time: < 1 minute A Saskatchewan-developed, cloud-based mobile app for farm management is being uploaded into Prairie grain marketing consultancy FarmLink Marketing Solutions. Winnipeg-based FarmLink announced Tuesday it will merge Farm At Hand, the software platform developed by Kim Keller and Himanshu Singh, into its operations. Financial terms of the merger weren’t released. “It has long been our belief […] Read more
When good isn’t good enough
How do you go from good to great at marketing? With volatile years ahead, these five steps will help
Reading Time: 4 minutes Neil Blue cut his grain-marketing teeth as a farmer in the bad ol’ ’80s. He had no choice. It was either that or rack up loss after loss. “Now the second and sometimes the third generation of farmers are learning about these things,” says Blue, today a marketing analyst with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. “Some […] Read more
More to grain marketing than price
Making your product available to customers is likely more important than price over the long-term
Reading Time: 6 minutes Correction: Mar. 6, 2015 – Without a doubt, the biggest fallacy about Canada’s grain producers is that they are good marketers. I would argue instead that few grain growers actually have real marketing expertise, and even fewer actually market what they produce. Grain producers who have spent many hours or days attending marketing groups, courses, […] Read more
Reading the basis
Of all the signals the market is always sending you, the clearest can be the basis. Here’s how to put that to better use in your farm’s 2015 marketing strategy
Reading Time: 7 minutes If there’s a market signal farmers obsess over, it’s the basis. Not only can it make the difference between profitability and red ink, it’s also set by your local grain buyers, so theoretically it’s the signal you should hear the loudest. But is the basis really well understood? Is it ever entirely clear why it’s […] Read more
Options in a bear grain market
If you’ve been leery of high-quality put options, Errol Anderson wants to change your mind
Reading Time: 8 minutes We’ve all seen it. Grain markets can take on narratives that uncouple them from the basics of supply and demand. A bull market can charge forward, horns thrust in the air, and it can generate a level of excitement and pricing that sellers love, but privately marvel at. It’s heady, it’s optimistic, it’s confident, and […] Read more
Minogue: Optimism reigns at FCC outlook meeting
Reading Time: < 1 minute Regina — Despite commodity prices down off recent highs, resurgent transportation problems and crop disease issues across the Prairies, farmers heard all good news at Farm Credit Canada’s Ag Outlook 2015 conference here Tuesday. “The sky’s not falling,” said J.P. Gervais, chief ag economist for Regina-based FCC. Actually, he said, things are pretty good. If […] Read more
Australia’s approach to grain co-ops
Owned by 4,200 farmers, the giant CBH Group adds a whole new dimension to phrases like value-adding and diversification
Reading Time: 6 minutes Given the demise of the prairie pools and the recent sales of a number of Canada’s new-generation co-operative grain terminals, it would be understandable if many Canadian farmers, grain traders, farm advisers and policy makers believe co-operative grain marketing ventures are simply not viable in today’s world. Just don’t try and tell that to Western […] Read more
Opportunities in grain marketing
In a tough market, everyone says “shop your grain around.” But what’s the best way to do that?
Reading Time: 5 minutes With strong grain prices over the past few years, marketing has been relatively easy. Sure, there’s been the perennial question of whether the market will go higher or lower. But finding profitable prices wasn’t exactly searching for a needle in a haystack. As long as they got the yield in the field, profits were largely […] Read more
Make the most from the 2014 market
Grain markets aren’t going to bounce back any time soon, says Calgary-based market adviser Errol Anderson. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t wins to be made
Reading Time: 8 minutes Grain and oilseed prices are reeling from massive global crops, and the growing consensus is that we may not see a bull run in the market at any time in the new crop year. In fact, the USDA’s latest long-range forecasts have got some analysts predicting we may not see another bull for 10 years. […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
