CHICAGO, Ill. — Mark von Pentz focused his presentation around three numbers — 40, 90 and 50. The president of Deere & Co. Ag & Turf for Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Asia and Africa, said those three numbers illustrate the staggering po-tential of precision farming. “A combine is only using 60 percent of […] Read more
Sean Pratt
Stories by Sean Pratt
Trump presidency called good news for U.S. agriculture
CHICAGO, Ill. — U.S. farmers can expect favourable farm policies coming out of Washington under a Donald Trump presidency, says an insider. “The president of the United States, the most powerful man in America and perhaps the most powerful man in the world, owes his fate to the people of rural America,” Chuck Conner told […] Read more
New forecast points to slow spring next year
CHICAGO, Ill. — Forecasters thought La Nina would be the major weather factor in 2017, but its looking more like La Nada, says Bryce Anderson, DTN’s senior agricultural meteorologist. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology says the likelihood of a La Nina developing is now low. That viewpoint is shared by the U.S. National Weather Service’s […] Read more
Market analyst says too many balls to juggle
CHICAGO, Ill. — Darin Newsom said this was the most difficult market outlook presentation he has put together in the last decade. There are too many wild cards and no clear path forward for grain and oilseed markets. With that caveat, he provided his best guess where soybean, corn and wheat prices are heading. Newsom […] Read more
Sky isn’t falling, but it’s dark
CHICAGO, Ill. — The downturn in the American farm economy will continue for a while, says a U.S. banker. “This is not going to be over at the end of 2017,” Curt Hudnutt, chief commercial officer of Rabo Agrifinance, told delegates attending the 2016 DTN Ag Summit. Rabo sees worsening losses next year in corn […] Read more
Fund buyers send soybean futures prices off kilter
CHICAGO, Ill. — Crop markets are not behaving as they should given the fundamentals, says an analyst. “There’s a lot of things going on in our markets that really don’t seem to make sense,” said Tregg Cronin, a farmer and broker from South Dakota. When that happens, he looks to the basis and spreads for […] Read more
Clock ticks on India’s fumigation exemption
Pulse crop exporters are getting antsy about the looming expiration of an exemption to an Indian phytosanitary policy. India has a blanket requirement that all pulse imports must be fumigated to ensure there is no presence of certain quarantine pests. The policy states that fumigation has to occur at origin. However, India has provided a […] Read more
Bayer laments clubroot resistant hybrids
An executive at the world’s largest canola company says an unfortunate consequence of developing clubroot resistant varieties is that growers have come to depend on them too much. Garth Hodges, vice-president of marketing and business development with Bayer CropScience, told delegates attending the Canola Industry Meeting that those varieties have given growers a false sense […] Read more
Not all on side with push for canola group amalgamation
If Garth Hodges had one wish for Canada’s canola industry, it would be for it to speak with one voice. The vice-president of marketing and business development with Bayer CropScience said there are too many provincial and federal organizations. “Canada is extremely fragmented and maybe duplicates a lot of things,” he told delegates attending the […] Read more
Clean fuel standard may boost canola demand
If Ottawa expands the biofuel mandate, it could mean an extra three million tonnes of sales, says canola group official
Farm and biofuel groups are happy to hear that the federal government is developing a clean fuel standard. Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna recently announced that Ottawa will be holding consultations next year on developing a standard that will reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by 30 megatonnes by 2030. That is the equivalent […] Read more
