World trade is collapsing, but somebody forgot to inform the world’s wheat traders. “Despite turmoil from outside markets, trade in wheat has remained robust,” Pamela Kirby-Johnson, director-general of the Grain and Feed Trade Association, told the Canada Grains Council annual meeting. “Although farming cannot detach itself totally from the financial crisis, trends show there is […] Read more
Ed White
Stories by Ed White
Farmers’ generosity increases
When prairie farmers have the chance to gobble up high prices for their crops, do they leave a portion for the world’s poor and hungry? The answer is yes, based on the thousands of farmers who increased their donations of cash and grain to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank in the past year. That’s an almost […] Read more
Cash for Man. transport hub
Money is about to pour into Winnipeg’s inland port scheme, turning a long-envisioned idea into reality. Eastern prairie farmers are hoping it means new ways to get farm commodities from the centre of the continent and into buyers’ hands. “It’s exciting and it’s great that some actual dollars are going into it,” Manitoba Pulse Growers […] Read more
Ethanol plays minor role in higher food prices: study
Ethanol is responsible for less than one percent of food price increases in the United States, a U.S. government study has found. It’s a finding that U.S. farm groups say exonerates farmers and ethanol producers from the charge that they are the main reason why consumers pay more for food. But don’t expect the food […] Read more
Russian pork plan elicits yawns
Canada’s hog industry has calmly received Russia’s recent announcement that it plans to become self sufficient in pork. Russian first deputy prime minister Viktor Zubkov warned the world’s pork producers two weeks ago that his country is “quite capable of providing ourselves with poultry meat and pork (within two years)” and can become a competitor […] Read more
Farmers in no mood to lock in prices this year
Farmer’s aren’t breaking out the champagne when they lock up new crop prices this spring. “There’s a little less excitement this year,” said Mel Pawlyk, who oversees the Canadian Wheat Board’s Producer Payment Options forward pricing contracts. “Last year at this time it was well ahead.” Analysts chalk up the slow pace of forward selling […] Read more
Futures problematic but still useful, say analysts
Farmers’ confidence is shaken in many futures contracts after the anomalies of the past two crop years. But they are still useful hedging tools, analysts say, and should not be written off. However, their problems should make farmers appreciate other forward sales methods, such as deferred delivery contracts, which don’t have the unique problems of […] Read more
Beaten, but down for long?
I remember in Grade 2 getting myself into a scrap with an older kid named Joey. We were in a sandpit at school, arguing over something I can’t quite recall. Anyhow, I hadn’t yet learned the lesson of not getting into arguments with those Grade 3 giants. It came to blows, and while I was […] Read more
Pirates and the high seas of trade
I feel blessed that I live in an age when stories of pirates are in the newspapers, not just in the history books. I had thought until recently that the age of pirates was far behind us, along with the commonplace use of snuff, the yearning for beaver felt hats and the fear of Jacobites […] Read more
Hedging tool broken, or just damaged and wobbly?
The futures ain’t what they used to seem. For the past year and a half there have been legions of complaints that many big futures contracts are getting way out of whack with the cash market. This lack of convergence with the underlying cash market – a toxic situation for a futures contract’s long term […] Read more
