Prairies hit hard by drought

Prairies hit hard by drought

Parts of south-central, southwestern Manitoba among driest

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — A new nationwide drought map released by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Canadian Drought Monitor (CDM) shows just how dry conditions are in the Prairies, especially in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Areas in southern Manitoba and southern Saskatchewan have experienced at least six months of drought conditions, according to CDM’s drought assessment as of March […] Read more

Percentage of average precipitation in Western Canada for the 90 days ending April 5, 2021. (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada map)

Manitoba forage, grassland growers burned by drought

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — An ongoing lack of precipitation, which is showing no signs of letting up in the coming months according to weather forecasts, is already causing problems for Manitoba’s forage and grasslands. Growers in the province have had to deal with three straight years with lower-than-normal precipitation. In 2019, multiple rural municipalities in Manitoba’s Parkland […] Read more


ICE May 2021 canola with Bollinger (20,2) bands. (Barchart)

ICE weekly outlook: Canola fundamentals still strong in volatile market

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — ICE Futures canola contracts moved higher during the week ended Wednesday, with the largest gains in the old-crop months amid ongoing concerns over tight supplies. Day-to-day activity could remain volatile at times, but underlying fundamentals should remain supportive heading into the 2021 growing season, according to an analyst. While canola futures have traded […] Read more

MGEX May 2021 spring wheat (candlesticks) with 20-day moving average (gray line) and CBOT May 2021 wheat (orange line). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Wheat lifted on spring planting concerns

Near-term tightness in world supply underpins soy, corn

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago wheat futures gained on Wednesday, following the Minneapolis Grain Exchange’s hard red spring wheat higher on concerns that dryness across the U.S. Great Plains could affect spring wheat plantings. Chicago corn gained ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s monthly supply and demand report on Friday, which is expected to […] Read more


(Lightguard/iStock/Getty Images)

Saskatchewan to pare school tax mill rate for farmland

EPT mill rates to rise for residential, other properties

Reading Time: 2 minutes Saskatchewan’s latest budget taps down the education property tax (EPT) mill rate it sets on farmland, while raising those mill rates on other property classes. The provincial government, in Tuesday’s budget, set the provincewide EPT mill rate on agricultural land for 2021 at 1.36, down slightly from the previous rate of 1.43. EPT mill rates […] Read more

(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Record-level grain handles continue for CN, CP

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Canada’s two largest railways both reported new highs in grain movement for March and for their first fiscal quarters. Canadian National Railway (CN) announced Monday it had moved 2.95 million tonnes of grain last month, beating the previous March record of 2.74 million transported last year. It was also the 13th straight month […] Read more


CBOT May 2021 soybeans with Bollinger (20,2) bands. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Soybean futures advance on supply concerns

Traders watch U.S. planting progress, crop weather

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures jumped on Monday on concerns about U.S. supplies dwindling due to strong export demand and smaller-than-expected plantings. The U.S. Department of Agriculture shocked traders last week by reporting that U.S. farmers plan to sow 87.6 million acres with soybeans this spring and 91.1 million acres […] Read more

A live Google map from the evening of March 30, 2021 showing vessels currently at Thunder Bay. (Portofthunderbay.com)

Port of Thunder Bay opens for season

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — The 2021 navigation season is officially underway at the Port of Thunder Bay, as the tugboat Sharon M1 and barge Huron Spirit arrived late Friday. The tug-barge combo discharged a calcium chloride brine solution, used as a stabilizer and dust suppressant. The same combo also opened the season 2020, one year ago to […] Read more


(Strickke/E+/Getty Images)

Top court upholds federal carbon pricing policy

Farm groups, fearing unsustainable costs, press for next steps

Reading Time: 3 minutes Calgary/Ottawa | Reuters — Canada’s Supreme Court ruled in favour of the federal government’s carbon pricing policy on Thursday, upholding a central pillar of Prime Minister Justin’s Trudeau’s climate plan and infuriating some provinces that opposed it. The country’s top court said climate change is a threat to Canada as a whole and upheld the […] Read more

The USDA building in Washington, D.C. (Art Wager/iStock/Getty Images)

CBOT weekly outlook: Markets move ahead of USDA report

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) market participants are awaiting next week’s prospective plantings report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), due out March 31. Ahead of the report, average trade estimates predict 93 million acres of corn, 90 million acres of soybeans and 46 million acres of wheat will be planted in […] Read more


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