Canada’s major railways earned more than $1.1 billion moving western Canadian grain in 2012-13. Documents provided by the Canadian Transport Agency (CTA) show revenues of $556 million at Canadian National Railway and $544 million at Canadian Pacific Railway. Those revenues were closely aligned with allowable railway earnings under the federal railway revenue caps. CN revenues […] Read more
Brian Cross
Stories by Brian Cross
PBR rules undergo federal review
Ottawa is contemplating legislation that would allow seed companies to collect royalties on harvested grain. Federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz told members of the Canadian Seed Trade Association Nov. 13 that Ottawa is considering changes to current plant breeders’ rights legislation that would clear the way for the adoption of regulatory standards known as UPOV […] Read more
Faller can be sold for milling in U.S.
Canadian wheat growers who planted Faller wheat from common seed now have a legal opportunity to sell their 2013 production as milling wheat south of the border. Scott Nagel, president of ADM Benson-Quinn, said his company has acquired an exclusive licence to import Canadian-grown Faller into the United States. Nagel said his company will accept […] Read more
Royalties on harvested grain may become reality
Ottawa is contemplating legislation that would allow seed companies to collect royalties on harvested grain. Federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz told members of the Canadian Seed Trade Association Nov. 13 that Ottawa is considering legislation that would clear the way for the adoption of regulatory standards known as UPOV 91. Under UPOV 91 standards, farmers […] Read more
More grain, delivery errors put west coast port in chaos
Vessel waiting times at the Port of Vancouver this year are as bad as they’ve ever been, says the company that monitors grain movement for the federal government. And it doesn’t look like they’re about to improve any time soon. Mark Hemmes, president of Quorum Corp., said some ocean vessels scheduled to haul western Canadian […] Read more
Viterra plans to build new elevator and expand another
Viterra plans to spend more than $34 million to upgrade and expand its grain handling network in Western Canada. The company will build a new high-throughput concrete elevator near Grimshaw, Alta., and expand capacity at an existing elevator near Grassy Lake, Alta. The Grimshaw elevator will be Viterra’s second new facility in Alberta’s Peace River […] Read more
Glencore buys into Aussie mine
Glencore Xstrata, owner of Viterra’s global grain handling and processing network, has reached an agreement with Japan’s Sumitomo Corp. to jointly acquire a majority ownership stake in Australia’s third largest thermal coal mine. Glencore and Sumitomo will pay $1.02 billion for a 50.1 percent share in Rio Tinto’s Clermont Mine in the Australian state of […] Read more
Wheat prices should remain strong: analyst
Drought in Argentina | Brazil could be a major importer of Canadian and American crops
World wheat prices will likely show resilience over the next few months, depending on how things play out in other countries. Colin Hulse, a market analyst with FCStone, said a number of factors could positively affect global wheat prices. Top among those is production in drought stricken areas of Argentina. Wheat production in Argentina will […] Read moreSaskatchewan farmers adopting midge tolerant wheat
Alberta, Manitoba lag behind The list of midge tolerant varieties available to growers is expanding in 2014 with AC Enchant
The number of acres sown to midge tolerant wheat varieties continues to increase in Canada’s largest wheat producing province. Todd Hyra, western business manager for SeCan, said farmers’ use of midge tolerant varieties in Saskatchewan has increased every year since the first midge tolerant varieties became available in 2010. “I’m still waiting to see 2013 […] Read moreBunge, Dreyfus plan expansions
Two of the world’s largest agribusiness companies are expanding. Bunge North America, the North American arm of Bunge Ltd., has agreed to buy Mexican wheat miller Grupo Altex, one of that country’s leading wheat millers. Grupo Altex operates six mills with an annual processing capacity of 800,000 tonnes. Financial terms of the deal were not […] Read more
