(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Feed weekly outlook: Feedlots booking for winter underpin bids

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Feed grain prices have been strong following Western Canada’s harvest, as feedlots ensure they’re covered heading into the winter. “Last week there was some buying in the deferred months, from January onward,” Allen Pirness of Market Place Commodities at Lacombe, Alta. said. Pirness said the strong prices were unexpected, noting that when prices […] Read more

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Klassen: Weather, COVID, feed grains pressure feeder market

Reading Time: 2 minutes Compared to last week, western Canadian yearling prices were $2-$4 lower on average; calves traded $2 to as much as $6 below week-ago levels. Southern Alberta received its first snowfall of the season last week, which hindered demand for fresh replacements. Feedlots always incorporate a risk discount when the first snowfall of the year materializes, […] Read more


ICE November 2020 canola with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

ICE weekly outlook: Canola firm at midweek

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — ICE Futures canola contracts have steadied after slipping slightly following Canada’s Thanksgiving long weekend, with nearby attention on speculations rolling positions out of the front month. The nearby November contract closed Wednesday at $526.10 per tonne, gaining slightly after incurring losses the day prior. Market participants adjusting positions ahead of the November contract’s […] Read more



ICE November 2020 canola with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

ICE weekly outlook: ‘Demand-pull’ environment supports canola

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — ICE Futures canola contracts moved higher during the week ended Wednesday, moving back toward the contract highs hit in September. Canola is pushing upside chart limits and modest corrections are likely going forward, but the fundamentals remain supportive and “the trend is up until further notice,” said analyst Mike Jubinville of MarketsFarm Pro. […] Read more

ICE January 2021 canola (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages plus CBOT January 2021 soybeans (blue line). (Barchart)

ICE weekly outlook: Canola rebounds on U.S. futures support

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — After a week of steady losses canola prices surged back Wednesday, catching ample spillover support from the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). That support in turn was derived from two new reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The report on grain stocks as of Sept. 1 noted declines in wheat, corn […] Read more


(File photo)

Feed weekly outlook: Prairie grain prices on rise despite harvest

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Feed barley and wheat prices in Western Canada have been showing some unusual strength in late September, with prices rising despite seasonal harvest pressure. “Right now we’ve been seeing a lot of talk about exports and the need for feed at feedlots,” said Erin Harakal, senior trader at Agfinity at Stony Plain, Alta. […] Read more

(Greg Berg photo)

Oats values hold steady at harvest

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — The oats market in Western Canada is holding relatively steady despite seasonal harvest pressure, although yields failed to live up to earlier expectations. “Steady at harvest time is good,” said Scott Shiels, grain procurement merchant with Grain Millers in Yorkton. Prices often dip at harvest time due to increased deliveries, he noted, but […] Read more


Pandemic planning: Groundwork

Pandemic planning: Groundwork

What will Canada's food system look like as we roll toward 2021? And how will you be able to build on those changes to make the family farm more resilient, more sustainable, and a better business?

Reading Time: 8 minutes Resilience has two halves. The part that automatically comes to mind is the way a truly resilient business can take a punch without shutting down. It can survive a bout of bad weather, bad markets, a black swan. But there’s something else too. It isn’t just that a resilient farm keeps breathing. It’s that a […] Read more

Chickpeas. (CalypsoArt/iStock/Getty Images)

Pulse weekly outlook: Chickpea market under pressure

Current crop up against disease issues

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Lost demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic is keeping pressure on the Canadian chickpea market, despite disease issues causing problems for nearly a third of the country’s crop, according to an industry source. After disease caused problems for chickpeas in some areas of southern Saskatchewan in 2019, the radius of the problem area […] Read more