There are two things I learned during my holidays about the novel H1N1 virus that has been infecting humans and causing terrible PR for the hog industry: 1) It’s still spreading around the world, especially in the southern hemisphere, and that’s worrying health officials in the northern hemisphere who will have to deal with it […] Read more
Ed White
Stories by Ed White
Cows happy with automated barn
GRUNTHAL, Man. – If you had your eyes closed, you might not realize you’re surrounded by 250 cows. You’d hear a lot of other sounds such as robot milkers moving, a scraper crawling along the barn floor, fans whirring and the occasional roar as the feeding system’s belt feeders kick in. And that’s the way […] Read more
Linkage stinkage
Holidays are a great time to unclutter the mind and rediscover concepts buried underneath all the recent flotsam and jetsom washed up by the waves of news. Such as: linkage. Remember that concept? I remember thinking and writing about that a bunch last autumn, as the world’s markets collapsed. Linkage was the phenomenon of equity […] Read more
International buyers worry about late crop
ELM CREEK, Man. – Rain and deep mud kept more than 100 visitors from around the world inside Myron Pedersen’s machine shed instead of out in the fields. “How are the crops?” asked one visitor, summing up the key concern of most of the people on the Canadian Special Crops Association convention’s bus tour. “I […] Read more
Edible peas face feed competition if frost strikes
Lawrence Yakielashek gave farmers lots of reasons to be bullish about pea prices. But he moved quickly at the Canadian Special Crops Association’s annual convention to “cool down the bulls.” Yakielashek, vice-president of Alfred C. Toepfer’s Canadian operations, said reduced acreage, late seeding, cool conditions and the potential of pre harvest frost in Canada could […] Read more
Late Indian crop, early festivals force imports
An early festival season in India means buyers are importing large quantities of pulse crops this summer, a senior grain executive says. Because India’s crops are slowly developing, they will probably not be available for the religious festivals that lead to a consumption binge in much of the Indian subcontinent. “The local production will miss […] Read more
Edible peas facefeed competitionif frost strikes
Lawrence Yakielashek gave farmers lots of reasons to be bullish about pea prices. But he moved quickly at the Canadian Special Crops Association’s annual convention to “cool down the bulls.” Yakielashek, vice-president of Alfred C. Toepfer’s Canadian operations, said reduced acreage, late seeding, cool conditions and the potential of pre harvest frost in Canada could […] Read more
Happy happy
Well, everyone in the equity markets seems happy happy again. And I’m happy. I’m on holiday, it’s sunny and dry, there aren’t too many mosquitoes and my garden is finally growing. The S and P has roared back up to the territory it was in last November – after that big crash – and some […] Read more
Deflation
Apparently we’re living in a state of deflation. Or were in June. For the first time since 1994 – an economic time so dire that enrolling in a graduate history program at the U of S seemed like a more sensible option to me than continuing to look for work at a newspaper – the […] Read more
Popping about corn
Special crop conferences are fun because you get to hear detailed information about micro markets that are a big deal to micro commodities like special crops. One commodity discussed at the Canadian Special Crops Association annual convention in Winnipeg today was a market that gave everyone a smile, but which is real money to a […] Read more
