STONEWALL, Man. – The Canadian Wheat Board’s $65 million ship purchase was all about giving farmers a bigger role in the grain transportation business and keeping the railways from overcharging farmers for eastbound grain, Canadian Wheat Board director Bill Toews said during one of his regional director meetings. “We have been looking at trying to […] Read more
Ed White
Stories by Ed White
Free Elliott wave stuff on grains
If you want to see some pretty cool high-level Elliott wave analysis of corn, soybeans and wheat markets, check out analyst Jeffrey Kennedy’s Daily Futures Junctures at www.elliottwave.com. It’s “Free Week,” which is a rotating promotional thing that makes the various Elliott Wave International publications free for a few days in order to entice you […] Read more
No stiff necks or stubbornness to see
I always try to keep lessons like that of Deutoronomy 9:6 in mind. “Understand then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.” Quite a few times in the Good Book, God gets angry with the […] Read more
Economist sees ‘growth everywhere’
Two big bank economists expect the world economy to continue growing in 2011, which will maintain the foundation for today’s high commodity prices. Neither think that an economic downturn is likely, but they are cautiously watching for early warning signs of a recurrence of the problems that hit the world economy in 2008. “We are […] Read more
Disaster in Japan could send economic shockwaves worldwide
The devastation and disruption of Japanese port cities is raising worrisome questions about prairie farmers’ exports to that key market. “There are so many things happening all at once in Japan it’s hard to get a really accurate picture of what the impact’s going to be,” said Canadian Wheat Board ocean transportation specialist David Przednowek. […] Read more
Chart me with a spoon
Wild market volatility is always fun to look at on the charts. So let’s have fun with a few. Here’s a fun chart showing what the commodity rally, recent weakness and Japanese earthquake/tsunami/nuclear meltdowns have done to the Loonie: That’s the Loonie in terms of the Japanese yen. Yes, as Japan’s economy has gone into […] Read more
Manitoba Pork Council hints at pregnant sow stall moratorium
Farmers shouldn’t build any more hog barns with the present style of pregnant sow stalls, the Manitoba Pork Council implied in a report released today. But it has not gone as far as directly recommending farmers embrace open housing for gestating sows. “Manitoba Pork commits to encouraging producers to phase out by 2025 the style […] Read more
Gauges, accurate and not
When I was a kid I saw The China Syndrome, a movie about a nuclear meltdown. I don’t remember much about it, but I recall that a big part of the disaster came from a gauge which seemed to be suggesting one thing, so the frantic workers acted in accordance with a standard approach, but […] Read more
Japanese earthquake hitting very close to home
Friday morning, as I sat in a chair at the hospital with my newborn baby daughter and my recovering-from-surgery wife, I offered thanks for the miracle of life. That’s what made it so sickening for me to read about and see on TVs at the hospital all the death, destruction and devastation that had just […] Read more
Protect margins as ‘double dip’ recession threat lingers
Today’s world economy looks a lot like the economy in the early-to-mid 1970s, and that’s great for crop and meat prices. Those were years of spectacular profits for prairie farmers, just like in these last few years. The prices of agricultural commodities traded on a much higher plateau. But although prices are higher generally, they […] Read more
