Reading Time: 3 minutes NAFTA should be modernized through five significant reforms rather than dismantled, say national farm organizations from Canada, the United States and Mexico. Agriculture represents one of NAFTA’s biggest success stories, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, the American Farm Bureau and Consejo Nacional Agropecuario said in a joint letter to the leaders of the three countries. […] Read more
Farm groups want modernized NAFTA
Farm groups from Canada, Mexico and the U.S. are calling for key reforms
U.S. seeks WTO dispute panel on China’s grain import quotas
Reading Time: < 1 minute Geneva | Reuters — The United States has requested a World Trade Organization panel be set up to investigate Chinese tariff-rate quotas (TRQ) for agricultural products, the WTO said on Monday, setting up a showdown between the two largest economies. The row, which includes tariffs for wheat, rice, and corn, was initiated under the Obama […] Read more
U.S., China agree to first trade steps under 100-day plan
Reading Time: 4 minutes Washington | Reuters –– The U.S. and China have agreed to take action by mid-July to increase access for U.S. financial firms and expand trade in beef and chicken among other steps as part of Washington’s drive to cut its trade deficit with Beijing. The deals are the first results of 100 days of trade […] Read more
Pacific trade pact nations meet to discuss future without U.S.
Reading Time: < 1 minute Ottawa | Reuters — Negotiators from the remaining members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) gathered in Canada on Tuesday seeking ways to boost free trade in the region after the U.S. pulled out of the 12-nation pact. The withdrawal killed off years of negotiations and left the region looking for ways to deepen economic ties […] Read more
China seen set to become world’s second-biggest wine market
Reading Time: < 1 minute Paris | Reuters — China is set to overtake Britain and France to become the world’s second-largest wine consumer by value behind the U.S. by 2020 as consumers turn to more middle-range wines, the International Wine and Spirit Research (IWSR) organization said Thursday. In a study for wine fair Vinexpo it forecast Chinese wine consumption […] Read more
Record U.S. hog slaughter puts pressure on Canadian pork prices
Reading Time: 1 minute CNSC/Winnipeg – A record week for U.S. slaughterhouses is weighing on hog prices in Canada. According to the USDA, hogs slaughtered under federal inspection for the week ended November 5 were pegged at 2.532 million head, which is an all-time record. That number is also up 7.2 per cent from the 2.362 million head processed a […] Read more
2016 could be a ‘battleground year’ for commodity prices
A ‘battleground year’ is how analyst Errol Anderson sees 2016. Prices will be profitable… sometimes…but success will only come to producers who rein in their emotions
Reading Time: 8 minutes It isn’t only agriculture. China has become the world’s largest market for an incredibly long list of commodities. Consider the manufacturing industry, for example, where the Chinese generate roughly half of global demand — they use 54 per cent of global aluminum production, 50 per cent of nickel, 48 per cent of copper and 46 […] Read more
Winter canola catches on down south
Winter canola took a drought hit in the southern U.S. in 2015, but experts are optimistic about industry expansion
Reading Time: 4 minutes It may have struggled with tough weather, but winter canola seems ready to take off in the Great Plains region of the southern United States. Spring canola is already widely grown in the northern states, but winter canola is a relatively new addition to rotations in the southern Great Plains, where temperatures prohibit spring varieties. […] Read more
The China (economic) factor and Canadian agriculture
Does China’s economic slowdown have to be bad news for Canada’s farmers? We ask Errol Anderson, does he see hope in the year ahead?
Reading Time: 6 minutes For the first instalment in our five-part series this fall and winter, we sat down with Calgary-based grain market adviser and regular Country Guide contributor Errol Anderson for his insights into what to look for in markets this year. The billion-dollar question, Anderson says, is what will happen in China. Other issues are important too, […] Read more
JBS doesn’t see Brazil beef exports to U.S. before 2016
Reading Time: 2 minutes Sao Paulo | Reuters — Meatpacker JBS expects fresh beef exports from Brazil to the U.S. to begin no earlier than 2016, later than the Brazilian government predicted, CEO Wesley Batista said Friday. An agreement between the two countries was signed in June, when Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff visited Washington, but Batista said it would […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
