WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Oct 4 (Reuters) – Canada’s smallest canola harvest in 13 years, resulting from severe drought, is forcing importers like Japan and Mexico to pay more or scour other countries for the yellow-flowering oilseed. With the scant available Canadian canola fetching high prices, customers of the world’s biggest canola exporter are leaning more heavily […] Read more
Stories by Rod Nickel
Canada cuts canola, wheat estimates further due to drought
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Sept 14 – A drought has damaged Canada’s canola and wheat harvests even more than it appeared weeks ago, according to a Statistics Canada report. Record-hot summer temperatures in Canada’s western crop belt, combined with sparse rain, sharply reduced farm yields of the world’s biggest canola-growing nation. Canada is also a major wheat […] Read more
Rocky Mountain dry: Canada’s waning water supply sows division in farm belt
CROWSNEST PASS, Alberta, Sept 2 (Reuters) – Where fly fisherman Shane Olson once paddled summer tourists around in a boat, he now guides them by foot – carefully navigating shallow waters one step at a time. “Every year, these rivers seem to be getting smaller, faster,” Olson, 48, said, whipping a gleaming fishing line over […] Read more
Drought forces North American ranchers to sell off their future
WINNIPEG, Manitoba/CHICAGO, Sept 3 (Reuters) – When Canadian rancher Dianne Riding strides across her brown pasture, sidestepping cracks and popping grasshoppers, she has less company than usual. Record-setting heat and sparse rain left Riding with too little grass or hay to feed her cattle near Lake Francis, Manitoba. She sold 51 head at auction in […] Read more
Drought shrinks Canada’s wheat crop to 14-year low, shrivels canola harvest
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Aug 30 (Reuters) – Drought has shriveled Canada’s wheat crop to its smallest in 14 years, and its canola harvest to a nine-year low, a government report showed on Monday. Parched soils and record-hot temperatures in Canada’s western crop belt sharply reduced farm yields of one of the world’s biggest wheat-exporting countries and […] Read more
‘Hanging on by a thread’: Canadian farmers hope for rain as canola, wheat wither
MANITOU, Man. (Reuters) — Andy Keen’s canola crop appears picturesque, bursting with yellow flowers that normally go on to produce pods of valuable seeds. But to Keen’s eye, it is a disaster in the making. Extreme heat and drought have accelerated development of his 1,700-acre canola crop near Manitou, resulting in flowers appearing weeks early […] Read more
Nutrien bumps up potash output after EU imposes sanctions on Belarus
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, June 21 (Reuters) – Canadian fertilizer producer Nutrien Ltd said on Monday it would boost 2021 output of the crop nutrient potash by 500,000 tonnes, after the European Union imposed trade sanctions on Belarus. Nutrien’s increase takes its potash sales outlook this year to a record-high range of 13.3 million to 13.8 million […] Read more
North America’s hog farmers face prolonged pain as pandemic gives way to glut
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Aug 27 (Reuters) – North America’s hog farmers face prolonged pain beyond the COVID-19 pandemic that has interrupted packing plants , as a pig glut in the United States holds prices low and pressures producers to downsize. Many North American hogs had nowhere to go in spring as slaughter plants suspended production due […] Read more
Canada, U.S. farms face crop losses due to foreign worker delays
WINNIPEG, Manitoba/CHICAGO (Reuters) – Mandatory coronavirus quarantines of seasonal foreign workers in Canada could hurt that country’s fruit and vegetable output this year, and travel problems related to the pandemic could also leave U.S. farmers with fewer workers than usual. Foreign labor is critical to farm production in both countries, where domestic workers shun the […] Read more
North America farm suppliers race COVID-19 spread for planting season
WINNIPEG, Manitoba/CHICAGO (Reuters) – North America’s biggest farm suppliers are accelerating shipments of fertilizer, seeds and agricultural chemicals to crop-growing regions in an unprecedented race against the COVID-19 virus that threatens to disrupt planting season. The timing could not be worse for farmers preparing to plant crops. Disruptions in deliveries of fertilizer, seeds or chemicals […] Read more
