Reading Time: 3 minutes U.S. agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack says the United States is trying to regain its competitive edge in world agricultural markets.
Commodity Classic: U.S. fighting for market share says Vilsack
Competitive advantages from superior U.S. transportation have all but evaporated
Bolivia farm region blocks borders, grain transport in protests
Reading Time: 3 minutes Santa Cruz/La Paz | Reuters — Protesters in Bolivia’s farming region of Santa Cruz are blocking highways out of the province, threatening to snarl the domestic transport of grains and food, as anger simmers following the arrest of local governor Luis Camacho. The region, a stronghold of the conservative opposition to socialist President Luis Arce, […] Read more
U.S. packer profit margins jumped 300 per cent during pandemic, economists say
Increased costs don't explain higher profits, White House advisors say
Reading Time: 2 minutes Washington | Reuters — Four of the biggest meat-processing companies, using their market power in the highly consolidated U.S. market to drive up meat prices and underpay farmers, have tripled their own net profit margins since the pandemic started, White House economics advisers said. Financial statements of the meat-processing companies — which control 55 to […] Read more
Grain handler group seeks Vancouver port governance overhaul
The WGEA, whose members ship most of Western Canada's grain, complain the port is in a conflict of interest as both developer and regulator
Reading Time: 6 minutes Vancouver, Canada’s biggest port and the most important to Western Canada’s economy, needs major changes in how it operates, the Western Grain Elevator Association (WGEA) says. As a statutory monopoly the port authority is both a port developer and regulator putting it in a conflict of interest, according to WGEA executive director Wade Sobkowich. “We […] Read more
Pulse weekly outlook: Increased demand seen, but problems loom
Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Unlike other commodities, pulses aren’t yet feeling ill effects from an economic downturn due to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, according to Marcos Mosnaim of Globeways Canada in Mississauga. With consumers panic-buying, there has been increased demand for pulses, as many are non-perishable, Mosnaim said. “These products will be there for ages,” he said, […] Read more
Wildfire-damaged grazing areas up for Saskatchewan aid
Reading Time: 2 minutes Saskatchewan’s provincial disaster assistance program (PDAP) will be opened up to cover southwestern grazing areas damaged by this fall’s wildfires. The province’s government relations minister, Larry Doke, on Wednesday announced producers who incurred wildfire damage on “tame and native lands” intended for grazing may now apply for assistance to get feed for affected livestock. Winds […] Read more
Africa feeding Africa
While North America’s farmers pin their career hopes on the need to feed a hungry Africa, that continent’s farmers are making plans of their own
Reading Time: 5 minutes A core belief in North American agriculture is that our farmers must produce ever more food if we are to have any hope of feeding the world, particularly areas like Africa where the population is growing so rapidly. The numbers are indeed staggering. According to the Population Reference Bureau, Africa’s population will hit 2.5 billion […] Read more
Supply management the hot button at ag debate
Reading Time: 3 minutes CNS Canada — Representatives from Canada’s five main parties met Wednesday in Ottawa to discuss and debate farm policy ranging from risk management to transportation and rural infrastructure ahead of the Oct. 19 federal election. The hot button issue of the debate, however, was Canada’s supply management systems for dairy, poultry and eggs. The topic […] Read more
Saskatchewan farm groups talk transportation
Transport review won't be complete until after the election
Reading Time: 2 minutes Saskatoon — Grain transportation should be an election issue, says Cam Goff, chair of the Saskatchewan Barley Development Commission, which hosted the Farmers’ Forum on Grain Transportation here Monday along with the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission. The forum coincided with Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz’s announcement in Winnipeg of […] Read more
Crop outlook 2015
Country Guide attended Wild Oats GrainWorld to hear what the industry said about grain and oilseed crops
Reading Time: 11 minutes With all the day-by-day and minute-by-minute noise that rocks today’s grain and oilseed trading, it can seem impossible to pick out the vital messages that the market is actually sending. Country Guide sent veteran ag reporter Richard Kamchen to Wild Oats GrainWorld in Winnipeg this winter to listen for the home truths about 2015’s grain […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
