Some farmers and marketing advisers are wondering what’s going on in the wake of the substantial negative basis levels that have developed in some Canadian Wheat Board producer payment options contracts. “The wheat basis level is getting progressively worse,” said Lee Melvill, a marketing specialist with Alberta Agriculture. That’s been a surprise, he said, because […] Read more
Ed White
Stories by Ed White
Future looks golden for canola industry
The golden arches are putting a big, yellow smile on the face of the Canadian canola industry. That’s because McDonald’s and other fast food restaurants have created such a demand for high oleic canola oil that canola crushers are expanding existing plants and building new ones. “It’s really exciting news for the industry,” said Joanne […] Read more
Continental road welcome in Manitoba
If there’s a secret plan to build a superhighway from Mexico to Canada, Manitoba’s hog farmers would be thrilled. But unfortunately for hog producers and other prairie farmers who rely on often-snarled access to the U.S. market, the rumoured road has three enemies: Canadian far-left nationalists; American right wing isolationists and economic reality. “I think […] Read more
Manitoba preserves one-room school
It wasn’t the cold, the isolation or even the snakes that sent shivers down the spine of Rlee Gilson, a teacher at the Willowview, Man., school from 1954-57. It was sending her little students scurrying home across the frozen countryside, unsupervised and unprotected. “They just disappeared in the bush like little rabbits,” said Gilson, who […] Read more
Wheat scarce, price soars
Wheat prices are breaking through price ceilings not seen for three decades. But western Canadian farmers, while happy about the prices, aren’t thrilled about their wheat. That’s because the sale price is only one part of the production equation, and production this year was both expensive and disappointing for most farmers. “We invested a lot […] Read more
Prices spur optimism
Many prairie hallmark crops are likely to be big moneymakers this year. Wheat, durum and canola all look like market favourites at a time when the grain complex is riding high. Wheat prices are tickling records at U.S. exchanges, durum prices projected by the Canadian Wheat Board are at very high levels, and canola’s price […] Read more
WCE sale should go easily
Don Roberts didn’t force the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange to tear its shares from his hands. He happily voted in favour of the deal that will likely see the Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE) take over the WCE for $50 million. “I think they did a decent job,” said Roberts, a grain merchant and commodity market analyst, […] Read more
Lock in soybean profits now, says analyst
Jeffrey Kennedy expects to see soybean prices climb higher to reach near $9 US per bushel. But the analyst does not recommend that traders buy their way into the crop. To him, this is a time when discretion is the better part of valour. “Now is not the time to get cocky or arrogant or […] Read more
Canadian barley unlikely to get warm welcome at U.S. elevators
Some prairie barley growers had been salivating at the notion of being able to fill their trucks with barley and haul it to U.S. elevators for big money. But a North Dakota farm leader says the big money isn’t there, and farmers on his side of the border might have some unfriendly words for Canadian […] Read more
Researchers aim for hardy sugar maple
Those verdant ash trees lining your drive could be grey, ragged wrecks in a few years. But Manitoba researchers are hoping to give farmers and city people a sweet replacement to the popular tree. They think the sugar maple, a tree popular in the East, could be developed to line farm drives and throw shade […] Read more
