The Manitoba hog industry feels like it has been facing the four horsemen of the apocalypse, but two of them may have turned around. Andrew Dickson, general manager of Manitoba Pork Council, says producers hope that the defectors can turn the tide – at least temporarily – and save them. “The future is going to […] Read more
Ed White
Stories by Ed White
Early weaning has drawbacks
Early weaning is getting an early death in many hog operations because it can cause more problems than it solves, a U.S. veterinarian told the Manitoba Swine Seminar. “We have undervalued the benefit of age to the piglet,” Chad Hastad, a Minnesota swine specialist, said in an interview. “Wean age is a critical factor.” Piglets […] Read more
Here’s the scoop: who’s growing what, where, why – and how it might affect markets – Special Report (main story)
There aren’t any no-brainer crop picks for producers with a little spare acreage this spring. That’s the universal view of advisers contacted by The Western Producer. “There’s nothing to me that’s all thatobvious on either the winner or the loser side,” said Charlie Pearson of Alberta Agriculture. Provincial agriculture departments, grain companies and private analysts […] Read more
No market mover
Any hopes that the United States Department of Agriculture stocks and world production report this morning would blow the crop markets out of the doldrums have been dashed by the generally expected conclusions. USDA’s WASDE forecast for corn was unsurprising in reducing Argentine production by three million tonnes, but raised a few eyebrows by not […] Read more
Easy Being Green
It’s pretty easy being green, especially when that’s the colour of gains on the contracts on the Chicago Board of Trade. At mid-morning all the ag commodities were trading up, with March winter wheat leaping by 18.6 cents to $5.61, soybeans up by 16.4 to $9.66 and corn up 8 cents to $3.66. Oats was […] Read more
KAP celebrates 25th birthday
Keystone Agricultural Producers is getting ready to deal with grumpy calls from farmers who don’t want the railroad refund money to go to research. But at the KAP annual meeting, a stream of Manitoba farmer representatives spoke in favour of putting it all into the Western Grains Research Foundation’s hands, and passed a resolution to […] Read more
Soy insurance rule irks farmer
Eric McLean was happy when he heard that Manitoba Crop Insurance was going to include soybeans. He has been experimenting with the crop since 2006 and this year planned to increase his production to 100 acres. He would have liked to have an insurance backstop. Then he found out the bad news: he lives eight […] Read more
Market pattern signals oat drop
A pennant has been waving over the oat futures market, but it’s not a signal producers will want to salute. It’s a technical indicator that suggests oat prices likely have further to fall. Oat market analyst Randy Strychar spotted the pennant formation and highlighted it in a Jan. 25 Oat Insight market report. Through the […] Read more
Difficult to determine what’s normal in crop price ranges – Hedge Row
What’s normal? That’s a tough question to answer when it comes to crop price ranges and yearly volatility in the futures markets. You wouldn’t think it would be that difficult, but volatility and price ranges seem to come in chunks of time, in periods when predictability settles in for a few years, then is swept […] Read more
Check-off founders praised
There were times when Dawn Harris, Max Polon and Jim Green probably had more funds in their personal chequing accounts than the Manitoba Canola Growers Association had. It wasn’t that they were wealthy people, but the MCGA was poorly funded. “The shoestring budget really was a shoestring,” said Harris, who along with Polon and Green […] Read more
