(Dave Bedard photo)

Cargill expects grain glut to last long time

Reading Time: 2 minutes Seoul | Reuters –– Commodity firm Cargill expects international grain markets to remain oversupplied for a long time due to bountiful harvests and a rise in storage, the head of the global commodity trader said on Friday. Bumper crops have flooded many markets, dragging on prices for grains and hitting profits at agribusiness giants including […] Read more

Heading into harvest, it’s easy to see all the reasons why the bear market could dominate our winter. But the market is fluid. Nothing ever stays the same forever, especially in corn.

Taming bearish corn markets

We’re back to the corn prices we saw before the great ethanol boom, but weather is always a wild card

Reading Time: 5 minutes The 2016 growing season in the United States has been excellent for corn production, and it’s making distant memories of the 2012 drought that reduced U.S. corn yields and sent prices into the stratosphere. Such a severe drought doesn’t happen very often. At that time it drove corn futures to an all-time high of $8.49 […] Read more


Use your knowledge to your advantage

Use your knowledge to your advantage

You know the quality of your grain. Use your knowledge to maximize profits

Reading Time: 3 minutes Pay attention to what you are seeing and hearing at the elevator and from the neighbours in regards to the grade and quality of grain coming off combines this fall. This will help you understand what’s out there and where your production fits into the big picture. Is your quality and protein above or below […] Read more

(CIA.gov)

Loonie tanks post-Brexit, but benefits minimal for farmers

Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — The Canadian dollar slipped after Britain voted Thursday to leave the European Union, a trend which one financial analyst expects to continue in an otherwise uncertain environment. But the loonie hasn’t fallen far enough to bring support to Canadian commodity markets. “Short-term, we’re going to be dealing with the day-to-day volatility and […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Fertilizer prices look to rise by late summer

Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — A rise in prices for soybeans and other crops could make fertilizer more expensive in the coming months, according to a major player in the industry. In the May market report from the Mosaic Co., the company credited the rally in agricultural commodity prices, the strengthening of key currencies and various Indian […] Read more

It was planned as a steady, gradual entry into commercial grain storage for Peter Archer. Then he saw the scale of the opportunity.

Built on the basis

For this farm, finding a way to participate in how local grain prices get calculated has opened the door for growth and success

Reading Time: 6 minutes Top marketers know that marketing isn’t only the act of selling, it’s the act of knowing. In particular, top farm marketers not only know their own strategies, strengths and needs, they also know how they can make them mesh with the strategies, strengths and needs of their customer, whether that’s an elevator down the road […] Read more


Stacked Shipping Containers

Could containers be the answer to the West’s grain shipping woes?

A containerized grain supply chain would enhance competition, says University of Manitoba economist

Reading Time: 5 minutes Ottawa has long been in the business of trying to fix the problem of transporting Prairie grain to the west coast by rail. Yet the issues don’t get solved. “None of the policies introduced by Raitt or Ritz did anything to deal with the surge,” University of Manitoba’s Barry Prentice says. “Worse, they have done […] Read more

(CMEGroup.com)

CME bars grain traders for years over wash trades, spoofing

Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago | Reuters –– CME Group said Friday it barred a grain trader from its markets for three years for executing noncompetitive transactions and suspended another for two years for market manipulation. The traders, Aleksey Vsemirnov and Stephen Duggan, could not immediately be reached for comment. Vsemirnov executed numerous non-competitive transactions in wheat, oats, rice, […] Read more


man in an oat field

Are the current low grain prices a challenge, or opportunity?

The irony is, it’s often easier to expand in tough times

Reading Time: 7 minutes It felt like it was going to be different this time. In 2008, when the bull run in grain prices really kicked off, that was the sense that swept through the grain industry. Finally, the world was going to have to ante up and pay farmers a fair price for their products. And keep paying […] Read more