The best advice one University of Lethbridge professor can give farmers when it comes to accounting for unpredictable weather is to be flexible.

How farmers can adapt to the new weather abnormal

The stable weather patterns of the ’80s and ’90s are gone, so we ask three climate scientists how to farm when the weather is unreliable

Reading Time: 6 minutes For many western Canadian farmers this is the fourth consecutive year with harvest progress seriously stymied by weather issues. Fall rains and snows have resulted in significant loss of crop quality and/or an increased reliance on costly drying of crops in each of those years. For some farmers, inclement weather has even resulted in crops […] Read more


Alberta’s canola harvest is so far pegged at about 71 per cent complete.  Photo: Lisa Guenther/File

Poor weather continues to hamper Alberta harvest

Reading Time: < 1 minute Snow, rain and cold winds continued to hamper harvest operations in Alberta during the week ended Oct. 29, according to the latest provincial crop report. Total harvest progress across the province was pegged at 81 per cent done, which was up eight points from the previous week. Southern Alberta was farthest along, at 95 per […] Read more



Photo: iStock

ICE weekly outlook: Canola bids return to being range-bound

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm – Until the New Year expect canola bids to remain range-bound much like it was during the summer, according to one Winnipeg-based analyst. “Canola going C$10 lower isn’t out of the question,” commented David Derwin, commodity portfolio manager with PI Financial. Below normal temperatures on the Prairies coupled with rain and snow have provided […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

U.S. diesel prices hit three-year low as harvest delays feared

Reading Time: 2 minutes New York | Reuters — Diesel prices in the U.S. Midwest have sunk to a three-year seasonal low as farmers in the region face adverse weather conditions, further complicating an already delayed harvest season, traders and farmers said. Diesel demand typically rises during harvest season because farming equipment and trucks transporting product use the fuel. […] Read more


CBOT November 2019 soybeans with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Soybeans up on trade optimism, Midwest weather

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures climbed to their highest level in nearly three months on Wednesday before paring gains, supported by optimism about increased Chinese purchases and fears that a winter storm in the upper U.S. Midwest could threaten late-maturing crops. Corn closed modestly lower and wheat was little changed, with both commodities […] Read more

The Chicago Board of Trade building on May 28, 2018. (Harmantasdc/iStock Editorial/Getty Images)

U.S. grains: Corn firm ahead of USDA report, frosty weather

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn futures inched higher on Monday on position-squaring ahead of a key monthly U.S. government crop report later this week and worries about forecasts for a freeze looming for the northwestern Corn Belt, traders said. Soybeans and wheat closed lower after a choppy session. Chicago Board of Trade December corn […] Read more


Wet harvests hurt U.S., Canadian spring wheat quality

Wet harvests hurt U.S., Canadian spring wheat quality

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Excessively wet conditions in the northern U.S. Plains and Canadian Prairies have hurt the quality of the region’s spring and durum wheat crops, potentially tightening supplies of top grades of the grains, handlers and agronomists said. Rains and heavy dew have slowed the harvest and, worse, caused mature, un-harvested wheat kernels […] Read more

CBOT November 2019 soybeans with Bollinger (20,2) bands, a gauge of market volatility. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Soybeans down on China trade pessimism

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures fell more than one per cent on Friday to the lowest in a week on rising doubts about a breakthrough in U.S.-China trade talks and forecasts for favourable crop weather across the U.S. Midwest. Corn and wheat also declined, following soybeans, although both grains closed with modest weekly […] Read more