Reading Time: 7 minutes When the Canadian Wheat Board was losing the single desk, there was no shortage of dire predictions about what the fallout might be. Even many of those in favour of an open market conceded that there were a lot of moving parts, and it was going to be necessary to proceed with caution lest very […] Read more
Making change for cereal crop development
In the wake of deregulation, the cereals sector has needed to reorganize itself, and so far it seems like the major pieces have been picked up
China to let land lie fallow as grain stocks surge
Reading Time: 2 minutes Beijing/Reuters – China’s ruling Communist Party has for the first time proposed to let land lie fallow in some areas to ease pressure on exhausted water and land resources while grain stocks are near record levels, state media reported on Wednesday. After years of excessive cultivation and bumper grain harvests, China is facing severe shortages […] Read more
Saskatchewan farm groups talk transportation
Transport review won't be complete until after the election
Reading Time: 2 minutes Saskatoon — Grain transportation should be an election issue, says Cam Goff, chair of the Saskatchewan Barley Development Commission, which hosted the Farmers’ Forum on Grain Transportation here Monday along with the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission. The forum coincided with Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz’s announcement in Winnipeg of […] Read more
Plenty of blame to go around for grain shipping debacle
A year into the great grain fiasco, it’s no longer only about the railways
Reading Time: 6 minutes UPDATED, June 21, 2015: The 2013 harvest should have been a time of wild celebration. Prairie farmers had produced a bin-busting crop with a record-smashing 76 million tonnes, and with good crop prices, the entire West should have struck up the music and started to dance. Instead, logistics turned the dream into a nightmare, and […] Read more
CN, CP book higher grain revenues in Q1
Reading Time: 2 minutes A bump in gross revenue from grain handling helped to improve first-quarter results for both of Canada’s big two railways. Canadian National Railway (CN) on Monday reported overall net income of $704 million on $3.098 billion in revenue for the quarter ending March 31, up from $623 million on $2.693 billion in the year-earlier period. […] Read more
St. Lawrence floated ‘blowout’ grain volumes in ’14
Reading Time: 2 minutes Having shut its locks for the season on New Year’s Day, the operators of Canada’s St. Lawrence Seaway system report moving a “blowout volume” of grain during the 280-day 2014 shipping year. The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. (SLSMC) on Monday reported having moved a total cargo volume of 40 million tonnes during the season, […] Read more
Russia’s new grain export duty sows confusion
Reading Time: 2 minutes Moscow / Reuters — Russia stiffened its bid to curb grain exports on Monday with plans for a duty on shipments, to defend domestic bread supply against a crumbling rouble. Russia, one of the world’s top wheat exporters to North Africa and the Middle East, has been exporting record volumes of grain this year as […] Read more
Moving grain to market
Truckers and farmers are still figuring each other out following a massive move to hired transport
Reading Time: 6 minutes The 2014 crop is in the bin, and farmers now face their two perennial post-harvest challenges. They must market their grains and oilseeds amid a challenging world scene, and they must move those harvests efficiently off the farm. Over the past 20 years, the way they’ve done that second job has changed dramatically. Back when […] Read more
Russia says oil-for-goods deal with Iran could be sealed soon
Reading Time: 2 minutes Moscow | Reuters — Russia hopes a deal to supply grain and equipment to Iran in return for oil can be reached soon, Russia’s Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said Sunday. The deal “will affect not only grain, there are broad lists of goods… We expect that (a deal) could be reached in the near future,” […] Read more
Russia may consider floating tariff on grain exports as last resort
Reading Time: < 1 minute Moscow | Reuters — Russia, a key wheat exporter to North Africa and the Middle East, may consider imposing a floating tariff on grain exports as a measure of last resort to defend the domestic market in 2015, its deputy agriculture minister said Thursday. Russia shocked grain markets in 2010 when it banned grain exports […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
