ST JEAN BAPTISTE, Man. – 2010 looks like a bad year to grow wheat, analysts say. While the crop’s low projected returns are mostly due in the short term to huge supplies produced in 2009, they are exacerbated by the long term slide in wheat returns for prairie farmers. “More and more growers are perceiving […] Read more
Ed White
Stories by Ed White
Producers committed to growing soybeans
ST. JEAN BAPTISTE, Man. – Two years of poor soybean growing conditions have not stopped Manitoba farmers from wanting to grow them in 2010. Farmers are hoping for good weather to see how the new varieties fare. “Hopefully we’ll get back to an average year,” said Manitoba Agriculture soybean specialist Brian Jack at St. Jean […] Read more
Sask., Man., travellers at risk to spread clubroot
ST. JEAN BAPTISTE, Man. – Pipeline crews and construction companies may weigh heaviest on the minds of Manitoba farmers worried about clubroot contamination. But the real danger to canola crops could be the young man who sits at their table for Thanksgiving dinner. “That’s probably your biggest risk,” said Manitoba Agriculture’s Ingrid Kristjanson during St. […] Read more
Two stories intersect
Here’s one story: Yesterday the USDA found lots more soybeans and corn than anyone expected, so all the crops dropped in reaction. That’s the story summed up by these two charts: That’s soybeans dropping a lot and corn going off a cliff. Check out corn’s gap down. The USDA found many fewer acres seeded to […] Read more
USDAtarama suckorama
Today a flood of USDA data came vomiting forth, giving grain geeks a huge sea of numbers to swim through. Yesterday DTN’s Darin Newsom said the pile of reports today “is like the Super Bowl, March Madness and the Kentucky Derby all rolled into one for fundamental analysts.” So, now they’re out, what are the […] Read more
Wheat: unloved and unwanted
It must be tough being King Wheat these days. Not only is there too much – much too much – in stockpiles around the world today, depressing prices compared to other crops, but it stinks in the long term from the perspective of farmer returns. For a few years now analysts have been pointing out […] Read more
Sentimental Indications
I imagine the mood in Saskatoon today is anything but bullish, after that awful ending to the world junior championship game last night. I don’t normally watch hockey, but I was sickened by that OT goal by the yanks and blurted out some inappropriate expletives in front of my daughters in my outrage. A result to drag […] Read more
Out with the old! In with the old . . .
A new year is a great way to clear out the crud from the past year or decade and start afresh: lose some of that fat, forget those old conflicts, take on that hobby that you’ve been talking about, and finally give up on the heroin. Or some version of that typical list of Things […] Read more
Hey, guys and gals, we made it!
Hey, guys and gals, we made it! If you’re reading this it means you got to the end of 2009, a rough and tumble and treacherous year that has ravaged many in the ag markets and enriched a few. Hog farmers are the most ravaged as a class. Flax growers are perhaps the most perturbed […] Read more
Dowser proves dedicated to finding water when asked
Some say he’s a fraud. Some call him a witch. Henry V. Thiessen of Morden, Man., doesn’t know what he is. To him, all that matters is that he believes he has the power to find ground water with a straightened coat hanger. And that’s good enough. “As long as it works, I don’t care,” […] Read more
