After a horrific spring and a scary late summer, hog producers faced better than expected markets in late 2020. And the set-up for 2021 is looking much better than feared. U.S. hog producers appear to have thinned their herds, and that relieves pressure after years of expansion. At the end of December, U.S. Department of […] Read more
Author Archives
In this bull market, the best advice is to be like Louie
I bristle when people say my dog Louie is scared. This happens when we come up to another dog and little Louie keeps his distance, backs away from over-friendly and aggressive possible playmates, and always makes sure there’s an escape route behind his butt. To me, this is just caution, prudence and a necessary precursor […] Read more
Richardson’s Bison deal not seen as ag-related
One Winnipeg giant has swallowed another, but farmers shouldn’t think J.R. Richardson and Sons’ takeover of Bison Transport is focused on agriculture. Rather than latching the trucking company onto its grain company and food operations, it is probably building out Richardson’s capabilities into new industries, says a veteran transportation expert. “I don’t think they bought […] Read more
Food service giant executes pandemic pivot
Sysco found itself forced to improvise last spring, such as helping convert closed restaurants into pop-up grocery stores
The pandemic tore a hole in the hull of Canada’s biggest food service supplier as thousands of restaurants and institutions closed. It also caused Sysco to sail into an iceberg of product oversupply as deliveries continued after its sales slumped. That caused a “pandemic pivot,” Kim Doherty, Sysco’s manager of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and northwestern Ontario, […] Read more
Long-time ag leader pens management book
Brian Hayward is now an author, but he is better known to farmers as CEO of United Grain Growers and Agricore United
Have you sat upon a board of directors with a terrible chairperson? Have you been the chair of a board and wondered if you were doing a terrible job? Do you even know what a chair is supposed to do and how to judge how well they’re doing it?These are questions Brian Hayward, a long-time […] Read moreHow much has Western Canadian grain transportation changed in 25 years? A lot, and not at all
Some things have never and probably will never change in Western Canadian agriculture. Number One of those things is farmers’ and grain companies’ constant and chronic complaints of poor and unreliable rail transportation. From 26 years of working at this newspaper, I’m pretty confident stating that grain transportation has been farmers’ biggest problem of the […] Read more
Grain handling system sees major overhaul
Every element of the system has radically evolved since the mid-1990s, from trucks to elevators to trains to ports
In almost every way, the Canadian grain handling and exporting system is a quantum leap forward from where it was a quarter of a century ago. “There’s been more change in the last 25 years than, I think, the previous 50,” said Mark Hemmes, the president of the federally appointed grain handling monitor Quorum Corp. […] Read more
Farm success is biggest grain transportation challenge
Some things never change. Especially this: farmers fume when the grain-handling system backs up or slows down and they get stuck with mountains of grain on the farm, have no cash flow and see their incomes and financial security leaking away as the grain companies and railways seem to do fine. Ever since I started […] Read more
Bullishness must be tempered with realism
Analysts warn producers there is no guarantee that the good times they have seen this year will continue into the future
Farmers shouldn’t indulge in sanctimonious values-signalling about their contributions to humanity when most are just trying to make a buck, says Neil Townsend of FarmLink Marketing. Growing and exporting agricultural commodities is a cutthroat business and there’s no place for lazy assumptions. Western Canadian farmers like to talk about how they feed people around the […] Read more
Railways made the most of grain opportunity
CN and CP say recent legislation allowed them to make the improvements that helped accommodate increased volumes
Nobody knew COVID-19 was coming, but Canada’s railways were primed to make the most of their sudden ability to ship grain to port. Two years of heavy investing into 2020 had set up Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway to be able to haul much more grain than before the 2018 Transportation Modernization Act […] Read more
