Hey, I wrongly badmouthed the NPPC folks earlier today. They, of course, as I reported a number of times, were one of the few U.S. farm organizations that actually argued against mandatory COOL, and that got them into trouble with some of their members. What my faulty memory was recalling was some of the other […] Read more
Ed White
Stories by Ed White
Dirty big secret
I always find it a little hallucinatory to be in the United States, where some ordinary things seem backwards. For instance, their ludicrous use of the word “patriot” for the traitors who rebelled in 1776, took up weapons against their government and persecuted the loyalists, whom they refer to as “traitors.” This was said in a […] Read more
CWB tinkers with durum’s fixed price contract
Many durum growers avoided the Canadian Wheat Board’s fixed price contract because they considered the risk premium too high. As a result, the board has revamped the contract and hopes to entice more farmers to use it – by increasing the size of the premium. That may sound strange, but the FPC Plus contract will […] Read more
Lock in some oats: analyst
When oat prices plunged during the fall and early winter, farmers went on strike. They shut their bin doors and refused to sell. But new and old crop prices are now recovering, increasing from March’s futures prices of less than $2 US per bushel to more than $2.50. New crop miller contracts have been on […] Read more
Seeding starts in Manitoba’s Red River Valley
STE. AGATHE, Man. – In fields stretching from Winnipeg south to Emerson, Man., wheels were turning and fields were being worked. A few days of dry weather and warmth were all it took to make farmland north of the U.S. border farmable. “It’s slow,” said Ste. Agathe, Man., farmer Richard Bartmanovic as he and others […] Read more
Cattle group says environment plan simple, affordable
It used to be uncommon to hear Canadian cattle industry officials talking like European Union bureaucrats. But Manitoba Cattle Producers Association policy analyst Shane Sadorski was talking the same language as the Europeans and some Canadian farm groups two weeks ago. “How do we achieve the most multifunctionality off the land,” asked Sadorski, before describing […] Read more
Grim Grimes
As he said to me this morning, and as I put in my last post, Glenn Grimes has a grim outlook for pig producers for the next year. “I’m not looking forward to the next 30 minutes or so,” said Grimes at the beginning of his presentation at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines. […] Read more
Depressing words from the dean of pork
I was just chatting with legendary pork market and pork industry analyst Glenn Grimes here at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa. It’s a beautiful, blue sky day, and there was rain two days ago, so there are lots of producers here milling about this giant hog industry event. But Grimes was pretty […] Read more
Open and invisible markets
“It’s a little eerie coming up here now,” said a senior Minneapolis Grain Exchange official to me as we came out yesterday onto the viewing balcony above the exchange’s trading floor. The prices that hard red spring wheat and all the other ag commodities at other exchanges are trading for were flickering and changing as […] Read more
Rally, rally, what to do?
Farmers who don’t like making tough decisions are lucky that they’re completely tied up with seeding and the business of growing a crop right now, because the markets are offering tantalizing prices. It’s quite incredible how strong the rally in most crops has been recently, even if you factor in the depressing factor of the […] Read more
