Agriculture Weather & Forecast

CN locomotives in Winnipeg (Photo courtesy CN)

CN apologizes as farm groups, Ottawa press on rail service

By Country Guide Staff March 7, 2018

Reading Time: 3 minutes Canada’s largest railway has taken the unusual step of apologizing for its pace of grain delivery in recent weeks and pledging “immediate steps” to improve its grain handle. After parting ways with its CEO Luc Jobin on Monday, Canadian National Railway (CN), through interim CEO Jean-Jacques Ruest, said Wednesday it “apologize(s) for not meeting the […] Read more

Sea surface temperature anomalies (in degrees Celsius) over the equatorial Pacific for the week centred on Feb. 21. (CPC.ncep.noaa.gov)

Crops, Weather

Spring outlook cooler for Prairies, warmer for Ontario

By Country Guide Staff February 27, 2018

Reading Time: 3 minutes Growers in parts of Ontario may get an early start on planting this spring, while Prairie fields may see lingering snow and later-than-average last frosts. WeatherFarm’s spring forecast, powered by U.S.-based DTN Progressive Farmer, projects a cold start to the spring as likely for the western half of Canada, reversing the milder conditions shown over […] Read more

Scott Moe discusses plans to lift the PST off insurance premiums in a Canadian Taxpayers Federation video. (CTF video screengrab via YouTube)

General, Weather

Saskatchewan pulls sales tax off farm insurance

By Country Guide Staff February 26, 2018

Reading Time: 2 minutes Saskatchewan’s provincial government has reinstated a provincial sales tax (PST) exemption for agriculture, health and life insurance premiums. Premier Scott Moe on Monday announced the exemption will take effect retroactive to Aug. 1 last year, when the PST was first applied to insurance. The province said the exemption will include PST on premiums paid for […] Read more

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, built in Norway in 2008, is the world’s largest secure seed storage site. (Matthias Heyde photo courtesy Government of Norway via Flickr)

Crops, Reuters, Weather

Norway to upgrade ‘doomsday’ seed vault

By Reuters February 23, 2018

Reading Time: < 1 minute Oslo | Reuters — Norway plans to spend 100 million Norwegian crowns (C$16.1 million) to upgrade a doomsday seed vault on an Arctic island built 10 years ago to protect the world’s food supplies, the government said on Friday. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is meant as a natural deep freeze to back up the […] Read more

Mature winter wheat. (Allan Dawson photo)

Crops, Weather, Winter Wheat

Prairie winter wheat conditions no cause for alarm, yet

By Ashley Robinson - MarketsFarm February 13, 2018

Reading Time: 3 minutes CNS Canada — While it’s been a cold winter with little snow cover, there is still hope for the Prairies’ winter wheat crop as soil temperatures haven’t hit danger levels yet. “I checked the soil temperatures this morning across the Prairies and most of the soils are about -10 C and winter wheat at this […] Read more

Crops, Machinery, Weather

Farmers Edge to use data to edge into insurance sector

By Leeann Minogue February 13, 2018

Reading Time: 2 minutes Farmers Edge has signed a four-year agreement with global reinsurance company PartnerRe to bring precision farming technology together with ag insurance. Under the agreement announced this week, the two companies plan to work together to develop new insurance products for the agricultural market. While Canadian farmers have access to government-run, subsidized crop insurance programs, as […] Read more

Pacific Ocean sea surface temperature anomalies in degrees Celsius for the week centred on Jan. 31. (CPC.ncep.noaa.gov)

General, Reuters, Weather

La Nina seen likely to fade by spring

By Reuters February 8, 2018

Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters — The current La Nina weather cycle is likely to transition into more neutral conditions by spring, a U.S. government weather forecaster said Thursday. La Nina is characterized by unusually cold ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean and is linked with floods and droughts. It is the opposite phase of what is known […] Read more

Crops, Weather

Adverse weather slows West Coast grain movement

By MarketsFarm Team February 7, 2018

Reading Time: < 1 minute Adverse weather at Canada’s West Coast is causing a backup of vessels waiting to load grain, according to the latest weekly Grain Monitoring Program performance update compiled by Quorum Corp. A total of 30 ships were waiting in Vancouver as of Sunday, which compares with the year-to-date average of 22, according to the report. A […] Read more

Forages, Livestock, Weather

Saskatchewan, B.C. areas up for livestock tax deferrals

By Country Guide Staff February 6, 2018

Reading Time: 2 minutes Livestock producers in several more parched municipalities in Saskatchewan and British Columbia will be able to defer income from sales of animals on their 2017 tax returns. The federal government on Tuesday announced its final list of designated regions for 2017, including 20 more municipalities in Saskatchewan and seven in British Columbia. The initial list, […] Read more

Crops, Markets, Reuters, Weather

U.S. grains: Wheat lower on technicals, better weather

By Julie Ingwersen February 5, 2018

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures fell to a one-week low on Monday on technical selling and an improving weather outlook, including beneficial moisture in parts of the Midwest winter wheat belt, analysts said. Soybean futures set a two-week low on forecasts for much-needed moisture in parts of Argentina, and corn sagged as well. […] Read more

Daily Network News

Canadian aquaculture should be classed agriculture, industry groups say

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