A Quebec slaughter plant has been fined $62,000 after pleading guilty to a series of charges, including inhumane treatment of animals and impeding the work of inspectors. Atrahan Transformation Inc. pleaded guilty to 27 charges, including “failure to comply with the requirements of humane treatment and slaughter, improper operation of a bolt pistol, inadequate monitoring […] Read more
Ed White
Stories by Ed White
Thanksgiving rally
I imagine one particular analyst wasn’t jumping up and down and offering Thanksgiving praise on Friday morning, as the agricultural futures markets shot through the roof and began setting two year highs. He was the guy whose ag market analysis appeared in an email mail-out I always get Friday mornings. Unfortunately for the analysts it […] Read more
Freakin’ Fantastic Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!
The ag markets have exploded today, following the USDA’s report this morning that predicts a drop in expected corn 2010-11 carryout stocks to 902 million bushels. USDA also reduced the size of the soybean crop and lowered the expected carryout, shocking traders who had expected the opposite. The market reaction has been tremendous, with most […] Read more
World demand expected for smaller prairie crop
Crop problems in other parts of the world have saved prairie farmers’ bacon this year, analysts say. Without the drought in Russia and Ukraine, Western Canada’s big crop of low grades would have trouble finding buyers. Fortunately, Canadian grain will find buyers overseas willing to pay enough to move the crop off the Prairies. “If […] Read more
Farmers can salvage poor quality crop at marketing stage
Some simple steps can help farmers get the most out of their downgraded crops and mitigate much of the damage from this year’s poor weather, marketing advisers say: • don’t panic; • know what you’ve actually got; • find a buyer who wants it. They sound like simple steps, but advisers say farmers often despair […] Read more
Resistance is futile
There’s been an enormous amount of sturm und drang ever since the United States Department of Agriculture last week tripped over a 7.6 million tonne pile of corn it hadn’t seen. It’s the kind of finding that can change the sentiment in a market. As our markets section editor, D’Arce McMillan, notes in his column […] Read more
Stats Can’s lagging indicator
Wanna know what the prairie crop looked like a month ago? Then go look at today’s Statistics Canada crop production report. Wanna know what the prairie crop looks like today? Chuck the report in the recycling bin and make some calls, because this thing’s as outdated as Mash re-runs. That’s not Stats Can’s fault: they […] Read more
Canola plunges
Canola joined the other main North American grains and oilseeds in a massive rout Friday, plunging $10.40 per tonne to $468 for the November Winnipeg futures contract.The March contract fell $10.10 to 481.80.The situation in Chicago was poor Friday, with December corn futures falling the 30 cent limit to $4.65 after a bearish United States […] Read more
Will the real cause stand up?
So what’s really behind the recent rally in crop prices? And what does that mean anyway? That’s what I’m wondering looking at the overall commodity complex rally and the coincident crop market rally. So often we get so deeply immersed in our little agricultural commodities that we don’t look further afield to see what’s happening […] Read more
Frost shakes up feed market
There is no unified prairie feed grain market this year. There are dozens of small, localized markets. Prairie farmers will have to keep that in mind when moving either good quality feed-type crops or damaged milling-type crops that have been reduced to feed quality. “It’s going to be a localized demand,” said Errol Anderson of […] Read more
