It’s terribly vexing to be a southeastern Australian farmer looking at what was- two months ago – a near-perfect crop come in as a drastically downgraded crop after harvest time rains. It’s also terribly vexing to be a prairie farmer with malting barley in the bin hearing about the situation in Ozzieland, reading about the […] Read more
Ed White
Stories by Ed White
Crying for the General and the K
Not a lot of farmers are going to be crying about the plight of the General or the K, but their situation shows the flip-side of the good times farmers are experiencing with crop prices. Today General Mills came in with quarterly results that fell beneath analysts’ expectations. The reason the company cited: higher crop […] Read more
Analysts bullish on crop prices
When Sean Gryba looks at rising crop futures prices and surging Canadian Wheat Board Pool Return Outlook prices, he feels on top of the world. He just hopes those prices stay up long enough so he doesn’t come crashing to the ground. “It’s a wonderful thing to see,” said Gryba, a 25-year-old Gilbert Plains, Man., […] Read more
Wheat board payment options good but too many are bad
Another round of Canadian Wheat Board director elections is over. What can and should the board do now to make farmers’ lives better? Putting aside the futile debate over the benefits of the monopoly vs. the open market, how can the practical grain marketing needs of thousands of prairie farmers be met? The general answer […] Read more
Tagger turns blood taker
A low tech solution exists for a common high stress hog barn situation, says a hog barn supplier selling a new product. The common ear tagger can be adapted to take blood samples. That means veterinarians aren’t needed and barn workers don’t need to undertake the onerous task of wrestling a big sow into a […] Read more
Talking crude about whether the past is prologue
Is crude oil just a measure of energy demand? Do rising gold prices just represent inflation fears? Do rising copper prices always mean construction workers are likely to have a busy year? Do falling bond yields signify deflation anxiety? And how do any of those questions provide answers that mean anything for crop prices? That’s […] Read more
Diarrhea, chicken wings, and boredom
Today I’m thinking about diarrhea, chicken wings and boredom. Let’s tackle them one-by-one, in reverse order: BOREDOM: That’s how the ag markets reacted today to a minimally-surprising USDA supply and demand report. Here’s how a mid-day CME Group market repot summed up the USDA impact on soybeans: “The USDA’s supply/demand report this morning was considered […] Read more
Larger canola supply might reduce spring prices
Supply is irrelevant. Demand is the only thing that counts now, say some traders about why the markets did not move on surprises contained in Statistics Canada’s final report on the 2010 crop. “Supply in canola just isn’t the issue, and it never has been,” said Ken Ball of Union Securities in Winnipeg about the […] Read more
Feed wheat EPO good option: analyst
Many advisers say the Canadian Wheat Board’s new Early Payment Option for feed wheat is what farmers need to clear their bulging bins. They say it’s a chance to lock in prices for a crop farmers have too much of, that lets them play out their market price expectations in several ways, and which is […] Read more
Market focused on La Nina’s South American effects
South American crops face weather challenges this growing season, but the final outcome will depend on what La Nina does in late December and January, says a leading weather and crop development analyst. “I think everyone’s become kind of complacent and not worried about the situation,” said Drew Lerner of World Weather Inc. about Brazil. […] Read more
