Colleen Munro

SASKATOON – The federal government has increased Canadian Wheat Board initial payments for 1995 feed and malting barley for the second time in less than a month, amid charges by one of its foes that the boost is opportunistic. The latest increase, which adds $12 per tonne to the initial payment for feed barley and […] Read more

SASKATOON – Ben Hudye says his trip across the border with a load of milling durum was worth $8.37 a bushel. That compares to a potential $5.05 a bushel he would have received for the No. 3 durum at home. The Norquay, Sask. farmer is an organizer for the group Farmers for Justice and leader […] Read more

At the beginning of May this year, December oat futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were trading at $1.503Ú4 (U.S.); a year ago at $1.271Ú2. On Oct. 23, December oats closed at $1.941Ú2 per bushel in Chicago, after trading above $2 a bushel earlier in the week, and at $191.50 per tonne in Winnipeg. […] Read more

The current domestic feed barley market is providing a good lesson in how important basis is to marketing decisions. Western barley futures prices in Winnipeg are at contract highs, with November trading at about $160 per tonne – nearly $3.50 per bushel. “That’s a hellish good price,” said Charlie Pearson, analyst with United Grain Growers […] Read more

September 1995 will likely be remembered as a good month at the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange. Some of the exchange’s futures and options contracts basked in the glow of a generally bullish commodity outlook. Contract highs were established in western domestic barley futures, feed wheat, oats and flaxseed. Of the lot, western barley futures, which has […] Read more

SASKATOON – Just two months into the new crop year, rallying world grain prices have prompted the Canadian Wheat Board to recommend initial payments to prairie farmers be increased. In its latest price forecast, the board estimated No. 1 Canada Western red spring wheat will fetch a record price of $226-$236 per tonne at port […] Read more

Item: In week six of the current crop year, ending Sept. 10., the Canadian Grain Commission tallied farmer deliveries of wheat to the system at 408,400 tonnes. Durum that same week stood at 51,900 tonnes. That’s nowhere near the 10-year low of 40,500 tonnes in 1986, but neither is it close to the high of […] Read more

SASKATOON – After a two-year hiatus, it looks like China is back to buying Canadian wheat. Just six weeks into the new crop year, Canada has sold 700,000 tonnes of wheat to China. “We’ve had a steady program in July and August,” said Canadian Wheat Board commissioner Gordon Machej, who looks after markets in Asia […] Read more

A million tonnes of canola. In Canada, that number represents 16 percent of the six-million-tonne crop farmers are harvesting this year. Not so long ago, a million tonnes would have been one-third of Canada’s canola crop. But compared to the world vegetable oil crop – coconut oil, palm oil and, of course, soybean oil – […] Read more

KINSELLA, Alta. – A generation after launching an experiment that popular thinkers of the day thought was closer to lunacy than animal husbandry, the University of Alberta ranch is heading off in another controversial direction. Instead of conducting field research protected from outside influence with the relative immunity of public money, animal scientist Mick Price […] Read more