ICE July 2022 canola (candlesticks, right column) with 20-day moving average (yellow line) and CME July 2022 crude palm oil (orange line, left column). (Barchart)

ICE weekly outlook: Canola books steep rise in prices

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Canola prices, along with other edible oils, received a strong boost on Wednesday due to sharp upticks in Malaysian palm oil values. Canola futures have also received support from a bullish forecast this week from Statistics Canada on planted acres for this spring. Despite the Indonesian government stating Monday its export ban on […] Read more

File photo of lentils being moved into bins in Saskatchewan. (Bobloblaw/iStock/Getty Images)

Pulse weekly outlook: Lentil acres likely up in 2022

Other pulses likely down, though

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Statistics Canada released its first survey-based crop acreage estimates of 2022 on Tuesday, reporting that while more lentil acres may be planted this spring, other pulses are expected to have their seeded area shrink. The national data agency projected 4.49 million acres of lentils will be planted in Canada this year, a 4.2 […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Drought fears, fertilizer may affect Canadian acreage estimates

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Traders and analysts awaiting Statistics Canada’s first survey-based acreage report for the 2022-23 crop year on Tuesday believe competition amongst crops — as well as their dependence on fertilizer, and the possibility of another drought this summer — will be determining factors. Canola stands as the best representation of traders’ concerns. Despite reaching […] Read more

“We’ve learned so much from each other,” says Jackie Dudgeon. Maybe neighbourliness isn’t gone, just changed.

Better neighbours

In an era of bigger, busier operations, are farmers still paragons of neighbourliness?

Reading Time: 6 minutes Neighbourliness is stitched into the fabric of rural Canada. It always has been. In fact, as Dr. Catharine Wilson, professor of history at the University of Guelph might put it, “reciprocal labour” is what paved the way for our farming success. “I don’t think we can overstate how important neighbours were,” says Wilson. It isn’t […] Read more


(Bondarillia/iStock/Getty Images)

Pulse weekly outlook: Pulse stocks drop due to drought

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Statistics Canada’s latest report on stocks of principal field crops clearly demonstrated how much of an effect last summer’s historic drought in Western Canada had on pulse crops. According to the report released Tuesday, last December’s total domestic stocks for dry peas, chickpeas, lentils and soybeans all declined from the year earlier. Those […] Read more

(iStock photo)

Pulse weekly outlook: Expect little movement in prices during holidays

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — There were no surprises for pulses in Statistics Canada’s latest production report, according to Marlene Boersch of Mercantile Venture Consulting in Winnipeg. With that in mind, she doesn’t expect any significant price changes for pulses. “Part of the reason is we’re starting to glide into the holiday period. We’ll probably see some movement […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Canola declines, durum drops in new StatsCan estimates

Soybean, oats estimates raised

Reading Time: 3 minutes MarketsFarm — There were very few surprises in Statistics Canada’s latest principal field crop production estimates released Friday — the first in 2021-22 to use a survey of producers. Nevertheless, they quantified just how severe last summer’s drought was in Western Canada. Canola production for the 2021-22 marketing year was estimated to be 12.595 million […] Read more

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Canada economy seen weaker than expected as supply chain woes weigh

Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa | Reuters – The Canadian economy most likely underperformed expectations in the third quarter amid ongoing supply chain woes and a brutal drought, official data suggested on Friday, prompting analysts to forecast the Bank of Canada could move slower on rate hikes. The economy expanded by 0.4 percent in August, missing estimates, and looked […] Read more


One Canada Square (tower at centre) houses the London head office of the International Grains Council. (Iliffd/iStock/Getty Images)

Grains council tweaks numbers in latest supply and demand data

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — The International Grains Council (IGC) released its monthly supply and demand report Thursday, projecting a six million-tonne increase in total global grain production at 2.289 billion tonnes in 2021-22. That change consisted of a seven million-tonne increase in global corn production, offset by a one million-tonne decrease in world wheat output. Soybean production […] Read more

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Interview: Counting crops in advance

Reviewing the latest from StatsCan and USDA

Reading Time: < 1 minute Statistics Canada on Tuesday released new model-based estimates for the country’s principal field crops, projecting “substantial” yield declines for most of the major crops grown in Canada, due mainly to drought conditions across much of Western Canada during much of the growing season. The previous Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released its latest world […] Read more