There’s never a dull moment in the wheat markets these days. Up, down, all around, like a rollercoaster. But mainly up. Here’s what Chicago winter wheat futures have been doing in the last few days: Look at that whiplash-inducing swing a couple of trading days ago! We know the stories moving the wheat markets: crop […] Read more
Ed White
Stories by Ed White
KAP asks province to subsidize the cost of bear fences
Manitoba’s general farm organization wants the province to pay for fences in areas where farmers with beehives have problems with honey-hungry bears. “There seem to be an awful lot of bears,” said former Keystone Agricultural Producers president Ian Wishart at the organization’s annual meeting held in Winnipeg Jan. 26-27. The organization passed a resolution calling […] Read more
Crazy times haven’t killed the hog industry
These are dizzyingly interesting time in world markets, world history and world weather. Not only has cyclone Yasi shwacked Ozzieland and driven sugar prices to three-decade highs (because the Australian sugarcane crop is not looking so good), but the freakin’ weather in Winnipeg has given me a brutal migraine headache, the only good aspect of […] Read more
Land a wise choice for investors, farmers
There’s a good reason why companies are trying to convince farmers to sell them their land, says a leading U.S. farm finance expert. It’s because they’ve realized that that’s often where most of the money in farming is made. Farmers’ yearly profits might be low in average years, but their total return is often better […] Read more
Wet 2010 may cause nutrient loss
BRANDON – Soil saturation and flooding weren’t just production problems for 2010, says a canola agronomy specialist. They might also cause nutrient nightmares this year. That’s why farmers with saturated soil should consider winter soil testing, Derwyn Hammond said during Manitoba Ag Days in Brandon. Soil testing is the last thing many farmers will want […] Read more
Global instability sends markets on wild ride
The bull market that is driving up food prices has been a boon for prairie farmers but has had a more chilling effect in other parts of the world. The Tunisian regime was overthrown by protests inspired in part by anger over rising food prices. The Egyptian government of Hosni Mubarak was still in power […] Read more
Malting barley prices are not likely to move
Prairie farmers are still hoping for higher durum prices, but most have accepted that malting barley prices aren’t going to get much better, say farm marketing advisers. Most of the available supply has been sold or priced, so farmers will be mostly spectators on the sidelines of a world bull market. “Farmers just have to […] Read more
Foreign food scares drive up world hog prices
Problems for pig farmers in South Korea and Germany mean hog prices are likely to keep rising, experts say. “There is some pretty strong potential for a further upswing in prices,” said Tyler Fulton, a risk management specialist with the Hams marketing agency. “Demand, largely from export markets, looks good, while (the potential for) supply […] Read more
An analyst’s non-copout copout
There’s a clever form of analyst that knows how to blather out strings of statistics and vomit forth reams of information of a bewildering complexity – and ends up taking no position whatsoever on the likely evolution of the situation they’re speaking about – without seeming to dodge the obvious question. The blathered string of […] Read more
The KAPos of their Discontent
The world’s economically powerful are gathering right now in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum. Most the planet’s worthwhile big-name economists, business executives and government financial ministers are there, such as Nouriel Roubini and George Soros. It’s like the Bilderburg Group, except 80 percent of it happens in public, there’s lots of media there, […] Read more
