OJ isn’t doing great. I’m not talking about the former football boob, who recently got himself sent down the river. I’m talking about the stuff some of us drink, sometimes. It’s that “sometimes” bit that makes being an orange farmer such a pain. And it’s something that reveals the reality that not all ag commodities […] Read more
Ed White
Stories by Ed White
Port disruptions worry container grain exporters
Two labour disputes are heating up in Vancouver and some prairie grain exports could get burned. The longshoreman’s union and the truckers’ union are both considering strikes. A strike by either union or a lockout by the employers would disrupt container shipments but not bulk grain, so mainly special crop exports would be affected. Bulk […] Read more
Dragged, but not too far down
Today’s selloff in the equity markets seems to have sucked down the ag commodity markets too, but they’re making a valiant effort to regain today’s losses. Recently there’s been a fairly steady upwards progression in crop commodity prices, but today everything opened down and seemed to be threatening the upwards march. However, there seems to […] Read more
Semi-positive from the Doommeister
The equity markets have been hitting two month highs and even some of the gloomiest doommeisters have been saying (hedged) positive things about the short term outlook. Today investment guru Marc Faber reiterated his generally apocalyptic view of where the world economy’s heading – “It’s not mildly contracting, but falling off a cliff” – but […] Read more
Snarls
Nothing makes a farmer snarl more than a port strike or lockout that stops prairie grain flowing out to the world’s markets. In a few days, farmers might have something fresh to snarl about if B.C. truckers and dock workers decide to strike. Right now it looks like the dockworkers situation might not go ballistic, […] Read more
Reducing emissions: Researchers seek solutions that benefit the environment and the producer
Farmers may worry when global warming critics blame crops and cows. But researchers in the University of Manitoba’s animal and soil science departments are trying to grab those greenhouse gas emissions and put them back into the soil and animals’ guts. After all, greenhouse gas emissions are inputs that are being thrown away. “Loss of […] Read more
Geothermal: Cooling and heating courtesy of the planet
There’s something lying under Geoff Legge’s land that he thinks is going to make him a bit richer. It’s not oil or gold. It’s heat and coolness. But it won’t make him money for quite some time. The Rosetown, Sask., farmer is building a new farmhouse for his family, and has decided to install a […] Read more
Books in an electronic age
With so much instant information available at the click of a mouse these days, the boring old book seems to have lost a lot of its grandeur. But one of the biggest problems in the world today, perhaps, and in the markets – certainly – is too much emphasis on little chunklets of information that […] Read more
Going tubular
It’s impossible to get any clear sense of direction from the ag commodity markets these days. Perhaps it’s always a crapshoot trying to call ongoing trends when they’re happening, but after a 2008 in which crop prices went far higher than even the most bullish prognosticators called for the year before, and after a collapse […] Read more
Good news has begun
Christmas and New Year have given birth to this year’s weather market, and so far they’re giving farmers lots of reasons to hope for a big recovery in prices for 2009. Since July, it hasn’t mattered what has been going on in the world of supply and demand of grains, because grain prices have been […] Read more
