It’s getting tougher to be a farmer in a society that has fewer of them. For those of us who are in our second century of life, memories are still fresh of times when farms dotted the Prairies and for people in the cities, everybody had family back on the farm. The reality is very […] Read more
Author Archives
Food firms weather COVID
Despite the pandemic hammering its industry and customer base, food service giant Sysco managed to eke out a small profit amidst slumping sales in the second half of 2020. In that, it echoes the experience of other dominant food industry companies. A huge fall in Sysco’s sales was partially compensated for by reduced operating expenses […] Read more
Hard questions on Canadian butter: What’s going on?
Foodies and home cooks across Canada have been chattering about Canadian butter and why it’s often so hard these days. Some toast butterers are fuming. (Look on Twitter and Facebook to see just how many people are becoming engaged with this issue. It’s one of those “talkers” that gets people going.) There is a widespread […] Read more
Canola not GameStop, but options can still work there
Everybody’s talking about how options contracts can be used as weapons of mass destruction after seeing swarms of Reddit-organized minnows take down some of the big sharks of Wall Street. For farmers, it’s a good time to just think about using options in a grain hedging program, but for their traditional use as dull insurance […] Read more
Hard butter issues raise questions
Something’s gone wrong with butter in Canada, numerous people are saying. Instead of becoming soft and spreadable at room temperature, it remains hard. “This is a national phenomenon,” said Sylvain Charlebois, the Dalhousie University professor and expert in Canada’s food industry. “It’s happening everywhere. It appears to be a widespread problem.” Indeed, anecdotal reports are […] Read more
The wonderful, wild world of commodities
It’s been an exciting time to be in the commodity markets, which applies to all open market crop growers. That’s true as well if you mine copper, extract oil, smelt silver or play with Bitcoin. (I see Bitcoin as a commodity, not a currency.) The world’s glutted situation since 2014 has suddenly evaporated, at least […] Read more
Planning habit worth keeping
The pandemic might have grounded most airplanes, but it has been like jet fuel for some, feeding many trends throughout the economy. An agricultural banker hopes one trend that keeps flying high post-pandemic is farmers’ embrace of strategic thinking. “I hope we come out of this pandemic with more emphasis being put on the importance […] Read more
Take advantage of bull market opportunities: analyst
Farmers have a great opportunity to make sales into a bullish crop market. It’s an opportunity they should be taking seriously because these sorts of prices can evaporate, says MarketsFarm analyst Mike Jubinville. “I still want to be an incremental seller into that rising market,” he said about strong futures and cash market prices available […] Read more
Farmers should learn from GameStop short-sellers’ pain
There weren’t a lot of tears shed for the Wall Street “Masters of the Universe” when they got their butts kicked by a bunch of basement-dwelling amateur investors in the epic GameStop short-squeeze. But even though they are hard to sympathize with, the Masters fell into a situation any farmer should be able to identify […] Read more
Butter sales increased 12.4 percent last year
Dairy producers had a good year in 2020 despite early COVID hiccups and milk prices are expected to rise this year
Dairy farmers should face a much less dramatic 2021 than what they experienced in 2020, Farm Credit Canada reports. And in the end, 2020 didn’t end up too badly for most. “2021 will be a year of adjustments, but hopefully less volatile than 2020,” said FCC in a January commentary. “Although the pandemic forced temporary […] Read more
