Today’s a grey, cold day. I hear widespread reports of a killing frost snuffing out the hopes for immature crops across the prairies. And I’m about to fly across western Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan – acreas hit hard by bad seeding and harvesting conditions. It could be a dreary day, so I’m going to think […] Read more
Ed White
Stories by Ed White
Why not live in a glass house?
The Farmer’s Share events of a couple of days ago have me thinking of the local markets we could have, but choose not to serve. Farm orgs in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have been funding analysis of how much of a representative family’s food budget ends up in the farmers’ pocket, and what three years […] Read more
Farmers wanna share
Usually when I got off for a week or two of holidays, the markets sharply rally. I take that as the gods’ sign to the masses that my presence keeps prices low and conditions dreary. Fortunately, that phenomenon does not appear to have occurred in the past two weeks, most of which I was off. […] Read more
Canola futures’ wild ride leaves analysts dizzy
Has canola topped? That’s something some traders and analysts are wondering as canola futures prices repeatedly bump off the $460 to $470 per tonne level. But it’s not a simple question to answer this year. “It’s really a jumbled-up situation,” said Ken Ball, a broker with Union Securities in Winnipeg. “It had appeared to top, […] Read more
Hog producers locking in profitable prices
Profitable prices for the next year are hanging in front of hog producers’ eyes and many are locking those prices in. That’s a change from many times of increasing prices, said Manitoba Pork Marketing Co-op’s risk management specialist. But it shows producers are now being prudent and wary after surviving a brutal downturn. “We’ve seen […] Read more
Canola weakens
Canola weakened Friday going into the long weekend, as caution among traders and a strengthening Canadian dollar cut support from under the market. Canola closed at $461.10, a drop of $1.50 on the day, for the November Winnipeg futures contract and $466.70 for the January.Concerns about poor harvesting weather and strength in other crop markets […] Read more
Quietly slipping into the future
One thing I’m not covering a lot these days is the hog industry crisis. That’s because profitability has returned to the industry and those who are left in it are busily rebuilding their balance sheets and getting used to the almost-forgotten feeling of being able to focus on production and pigs rather than on banks […] Read more
Russian wheat export ban good for Canada
The Russian government did Canadian farmers a big favour when it cut off its wheat exports to the world, say Japanese grain buyers. During a visit to the Canadian International Grains Institute in Winnipeg, Yukio Mitutome, managing director of the Japanese Flour Millers Association, said Russia’s export ban has made Canada’s reliable, high quality supply […] Read more
Wheat farmers weigh locking in prices or risking the pools
Farmers are getting headaches wondering what to do about pricing wheat now that prices are high but signals are mixed. They must wrestle with whether to lock in prices now through Canadian Wheat Board pricing programs or take a chance on the pools. However, now they also have to weigh the dangers of committing their […] Read more
Canola takes dip
Canola continued to hover near the top of its recent range Thursday, closing at $462.60 per tonne for the November futures contract, a drop of $2.20.Canola opened at $466.30, managed to crawl up to only $466.90 during the Thursday session, hit a low of $460.20 and closed below both the open and yesterday’s close.Weather worries […] Read more
