Reading Time: 4 minutes Canadian dollar “Excluding an extraordinary shock to production or commodity prices, a significant increase in the value of the Canadian dollar would have the biggest impact on the supply of farmland available for sale,” says Saskatchewan realtor Tim Hammond. A weak Canadian dollar is beneficial overall to Canadian farmers as they export the majority of […] Read more
Black swans
What will it take to knock Canada’s farmland market out of its holding pattern?
The wild ride in soybean markets continues
Most years offer some reasonable pricing opportunities. This winter, they may be difficult to find
Reading Time: 5 minutes From small beginnings in the deep southwest of Ontario, soybeans in 2018 have expanded across Canada in a very big way. In fact, when you commence the drive from Windsor, Ont., soybean fields dominate the landscape along the 401 corridor and into Quebec. It is the same in parts of Manitoba, with smaller acreages dotting […] Read more
CPTPP trade agreement ratified
Canada will be among the original six and will gain some benefit from moving early
Reading Time: < 1 minute The last domestic legislative hurdle to enacting the CPTPP trade deal with Pacific rim countries has been cleared. The deal was approved by senate and received Royal Assent the afternoon of Oct. 25. The moves makes Canada one of the first countries to ratify the 11 nation deal which comes into effect once the first […] Read more
CBOT weekly outlook: Corn and soy markets awaiting USDA report
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada – After a week where corn, soybean and wheat contracts climbed on the Chicago Board of Trade, traders are now awaiting the latest supply and demand report from the United States Department of Agriculture. “With the crop report (for) August, which at least over the last five years has historically leaned more bearish […] Read more
World’s ‘affection’ for Canada will help in trade diversification: Carr
Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa | Reuters — There is “an awful lot of affection for Canada” around the world that will help the government’s push to diversify exports away from the United States, the country’s new trade minister said on Thursday, as ties with Washington become more strained. Winnipeg MP Jim Carr, previously the minister for natural resources, […] Read more
Interview: A taxing time for manufacturers
Ag manufacturers see uncertainty and higher production costs from steel tariffs
Reading Time: 6 minutes The opening salvos in a trade war initiated by the current U.S. administration are already having an impact on all the manufacturing sectors in Canada, the U.S and around the world, most of it negative. For example, it’s been announced that Harley Davidson, that icon of U.S. brands, feels it’s necessary to move some of […] Read more
2018 in doubt
With the constant flow of inflammatory NAFTA headlines, it’s no wonder farmers are feeling more anxious and stressed than in years. Here’s what you can do about it
Reading Time: 8 minutes Hundreds of heads silently bobbed up and down as Canada’s 18th prime minister introduced the topic producers had gathered earlier this winter in Winnipeg to hear about — the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Act. “We will need to be extremely vigilant in safeguarding access to our most vital market and in resisting […] Read more
Why China needs canola imports
China has been growing rapeseed for millennia and has seen a rapid increase in productivity over the past 50 years. Even so, production can’t meet demand
Reading Time: 5 minutes Brassica rapa plants have contributed to Chinese cuisine for millennia. “The Book of Songs”, an ancient collection of Chinese poetry, includes one 3,000-year-old poem, Gu Feng, which specifically mentions the plant. In this English translation, Brassica rapa is called “mustard plant.” Gently blows the east wind, With cloudy skies and with rain. Husband and wife […] Read more
TPP trade pact in disarray as Canada holds up talks
Reading Time: 3 minutes Vietnam | Reuters – Efforts to revive the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal foundered on Friday when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau failed to show up for a meeting to agree a path forward without the United States. The lack of a deal on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit […] Read more
‘Do no harm’
Canada’s supply-management farmers have three blunt words of advice for our NAFTA negotiating team
Reading Time: 3 minutes Canada’s supply management sector is experiencing its usual trade-talk trepidation as the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement gets started. Even so, dairy and poultry farmers are relying on Ottawa’s assurances at meetings through the summer that the system of domestic price setting, and the high border tariffs that support it, will not […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
