Reading Time: 6 minutes How big is your world? Geographically, this is an easy question to answer with great precision. The diameter of the Earth at the equator is 12,756 km. Its circumference is 40,030 km along the equator, and 40,008 km through the poles. Thus the surface area of our planet is roughly 510 million sq. km. It’s […] Read more
How big is your market?
We must get better at understanding that the world’s commodity buyers have a growing range of options
Taking charge of climate
Changing weather is hitting these B.C. farmers hard. Now they’re fighting back
Reading Time: 8 minutes Standing at the window in his kitchen, Fort Fraser, B.C. rancher Wayne Ray watches the heavy grey clouds and he shakes his head. It’s July — haying season — but the rain won’t let him get at it. Ray is lucky. He hasn’t yet cut his hay yet, so at least it isn’t laying in […] Read more
Big rains put Ontario crops under water
Time is now the factor for submerged crops if they are to remain healthy
Reading Time: 3 minutes A huge rainfall across midwestern Ontario has put fields of crops underwater. The rain, overnight June 22, totalled four to eight inches in an area from Goderich to east of the Grand River, flooding towns built generations ago along the rivers, forcing cattle to higher ground and leaving growing crops covered in water. Low points […] Read more
VIDEO: Big rain in southern Ontario poses crop challenges
Reading Time: < 1 minute A wide area of midwestern Ontario got around six inches of rain on June 22, flooding parts of small towns and turning many fields in the area into swamps.
Should drought-stressed alfalfa be clipped?
Clipping drought-stressed alfalfa will not help it regrow faster when rainfall or moisture comes back
Reading Time: 2 minutes North Dakota State University – Many parts of the state where alfalfa is grown are experiencing moderate to severe drought, which is causing spring alfalfa growth to wilt, and shoots and leaves to dry. “During drought, forage is likely in short supply and farmers are likely to try to get as much forage as possible,” […] Read more
VIDEO: Late planting suggests more soybeans for Ont. farmers
Reading Time: < 1 minute Wet late May weather is hindering completion of Ontario planting, likely meaning more farmers will make the switch to soybeans from corn. To read a related article on Country Guide, click here.
CBOT weekly outlook: ‘Managed money crowd’ buoys futures
Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada — Bullish weather propped up Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) corn and soybean futures, spurring spec buying on the week — but it’s likely not enough to break the commodities’ ranges, one U.S. analyst says. “Lately here, of course it’s been weather with all the rain last week and over the weekend. The […] Read more
Last five years were hottest on record
Reading Time: 2 minutes Morocco/Reuters – The past five years were the hottest on record with mounting evidence that heat waves, floods and rising sea levels are stoked by man-made climate change, the United Nations weather agency said on Tuesday. Some freak weather events would have happened naturally but the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said greenhouse gas emissions had […] Read more
Warm spell raises hopes as Canadian farmers race to finish harvest
Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg/Reuters – Unusually warm temperatures in Western Canada are raising farmers’ hopes of a strong finish to a growing season of highs and lows, easing investors’ worries about the late harvest. Summer-like weather in Saskatchewan and Alberta, the two biggest wheat and canola-growing provinces in Canada — a top global exporter of both crops — […] Read more
No drying trend in store for Canadian Prairies
Reading Time: < 1 minute Commodity News Service – Crops on the Western Canadian Prairies could be seeing more soggy conditions in the next six to 10 days, according to a noted U.S. weather watcher. “Saskatchewan and Manitoba will probably have a net drying bias for this week,” said Drew Lerner of World Weather Inc. in Kansas City on July 25. […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
