Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters – U.S. grain merchant Archer-Daniels-Midland Co on Tuesday reported quarterly profit leapt 52 percent due to strong exports and oilseed crushing margins. The bigger-than-expected earnings sent shares to a two-week high and extended a recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, which last year hurt demand for the company’s ethanol and food products. Shares were up […] Read more
ADM quarterly profit surges amid strong U.S. corn exports to China
Nigeria’s Okonjo-Iweala makes history as new head of WTO
Geneva-based body leaderless for six months; Trump paralyzed some of WTO's functions
Reading Time: 4 minutes Geneva/Washington | Reuters — Three months after the Trump administration rejected her, former Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala received unanimous backing on Monday to become the first woman and first African director-general of the World Trade Organization. A self-declared “doer” with a track record of taking on seemingly intractable problems, Okonjo-Iweala will have her work […] Read more
Grain Growers of Canada lobby Parliament Hill
Agriculture can help restart Canada's economy and the federal government help by addressing some issues, group says
Reading Time: 2 minutes Agriculture can help revitalize Canada’s post-COVID economy, but the federal government should clear the track for it. That means updating regulations to encourage technological innovation, improving market access for agricultural exports and recognizing farm practices that help the environment, Grain Growers of Canada (GGC) says. The organization, which represents 15 regional, provincial and national grain […] Read more
Action needed on trade talks, supply/demand report out Friday
Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm – There needs to be some kind of firm, tangible action when it comes to the partial trade agreement between the United States and China, said Steve Georgy of Allendale Inc. in McHenry, Ill. He pointed to China, which recently said it wants some of the tariffs the U.S. has on its imports to […] Read more
China, France sign deals worth $15 bln during visit
Reading Time: 2 minutes Beijing | Reuters – China and France signed contracts totalling $15 billion during a visit by President Emmanuel Macron, a Chinese government official told a news briefing on Wednesday. Deals were struck in the fields of aeronautics, energy and agriculture, including approval for 20 French companies to export poultry, beef and pork to China. They also agreed to expand […] Read more
Canada, China meet over canola stalemate
Reading Time: 4 minutes [UPDATED: Oct. 31, 2019] Glacier FarmMedia – Canada and China finally had a face-to-face meeting *Oct. 28 in Geneva on China’s de facto import ban of Canadian canola seed. The private consultation under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (WTO) went well, according to Brian Innes, the Canola Council of Canada’s *vice-president of public […] Read more
Trump, EU officials announce deal to sell more U.S. beef to Europe
Reading Time: 3 minutes Washington | Reuters – U.S. President Donald Trump announced a deal on Friday to sell more American beef to Europe, a modest win for an administration that remains mired in a trade war with China, but he said tariffs on European auto exports remain a possibility. The European Commission has stressed that any beef deal […] Read more
China trade
Will the friction between China and Donald Trump create real opportunities for Canadian soybean growers?
Reading Time: 7 minutes In today’s world, the news headlines that we read in the morning can be turned on their head that afternoon, which is why being able to differentiate what is really newsworthy from what’s just background noise is becoming a critical success factor for farmers. On the trade front, ongoing tensions between the U.S. and China […] Read more
Is Hawaii the canary in the cornfield?
There is a lesson for us to learn from the island paradise, so get ready for some uncomfortable reading
Reading Time: 7 minutes Since 2012, U.S. grain prices have trended down significantly. Canadian farmers have been somewhat shielded from the price drop by a corresponding slump in the Canadian dollar. However, current prices combined with last year’s weather-related yield and quality losses are resulting in negative margins for many producers. Coffee shop analysts are quick to assign blame […] Read more
Building their Canadian base
While the rest of us had our eyes turned south, Ukrainian manufacturer Losova used CUFTA to set up shop in Canada
Reading Time: 5 minutes If we’ve heard about NAFTA and USMCA once during the past 12 months, we’ve heard about them a million times, and for good reason. As the U.S. president’s rhetoric around the renegotiations heated up, the risk to established supply chains in virtually every manufacturing sector kept business executives up at night. Now, with a new […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
