Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures fell by an exchange-imposed limit for a second consecutive session on Thursday as commodities declined broadly. Selling by index funds fueled losses in markets from hogs to cattle and corn, after the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled it might raise interest rates sooner than expected, […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hogs limit down for second consecutive day
CME August cattle end lower
Farmland appreciation continues through pandemic year
FCC report puts Canada's average land value increase at 5.4 per cent
Reading Time: 3 minutes Economic churn across Canada from the global COVID-19 pandemic didn’t faze the country’s real estate market — nor its farmland market in particular — in 2020, according to the latest review from the federal farm lending agency. Farm Credit Canada on Monday released its 2020 Farmland Values report, showing an average increase of 5.4 per […] Read more
Machinery costs driving up fixed farming expenses
Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Fixed costs on farms continue to rise year-over-year, a statistic largely attributed to increasing land values and interest rates. At the beginning of 2019, Farm Credit Canada (FCC) reported farmland values across Canada increased by an average of 6.6 per cent during the previous year. But that’s not the main driver of fixed […] Read more
Report shows slower pace for rising farmland values
Reading Time: 2 minutes While lower-valued farmland more often showed a higher rate of increase, and price hikes varied from region to region, Canada’s farmland values on average have booked their slowest year-over-year rate of increase in almost a decade. That’s according to the annual Farmland Values Report from Farm Credit Canada (FCC), in which the federal ag lending […] Read more
FCC offers up new Starter Loans
Reading Time: 2 minutes “Preferential” loan rates are available to young farmers or agribusinesspeople planning start-ups through a new Farm Credit Canada lending program. Lawrence MacAulay, addressing the Canadian Federation of Agriculture’s annual meeting Wednesday in Ottawa when he was still federal minister of agriculture, unveiled the federal ag lending agency’s new Starter Loan Program. The program, according to […] Read more
Ag seen gaining on slightly weaker loonie in 2019
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — Farm Credit Canada (FCC) predicts the Canadian dollar will spend the year around the 75-U.S. cent mark — slightly softer than last year’s average of 76. “We’re going to see volatility throughout the year obviously but when we look at that season, or the full year average, we’re looking for it to […] Read more
Trade certainty doesn’t translate to higher loonie
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — Even with more certainty around trade with the U.S., Canadians shouldn’t expect to see the dollar flying in value. “It’s hard for me to see the Canadian dollar gain value against the U.S. dollar in the short term, unless the Bank of Canada totally revises its stance towards interest rates,” said J.P. […] Read more
ICE weekly outlook: Canola facing uncertainty
Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada — ICE Futures Canada canola contracts fell to their lowest levels in more than three months during the week ended Wednesday, but could still have more room to the downside given the general sense of global trade uncertainty. “Every commodity trader in North America or globally is scared to death right now,” said […] Read more
Farmland values rise, but interest rates curb market
Reading Time: 3 minutes CNS Canada — Prices of Canadian farmland were seen rising in 2017, with most sales happening in the first half of 2017 before interest rate increases and the drought in Western Canada hit. That’s according to the annual Farmland Values Report released Monday by Farm Credit Canada (FCC), based on 90 per cent of farmland […] Read more
Southern Ontario median farmland price jumps in 2017
Reading Time: 2 minutes The threat of interest rate increases hasn’t dampened the prices southern Ontario farmers are paying for land. The annual Valco study of land values showed an increase in value of 9.76 per cent for farmland sold in 2017 over 2016. This increase is the largest since 2013. The median price for land in the surveyed […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
