2014 Canadian lentil production (000 tonnes)
Yellow pea prices should rise next year because of pulse production problems in India, says an analyst. “I think we’re going to $8 (per bushel) on yellow peas,” Marlene Boersch, managing partner of Mercantile Consulting Venture, told Agri-Trend’s 2014 Farm Forum Event. She believes peas are undervalued, but lentils are about where they should be […] Read more
Sean Pratt
Stories by Sean Pratt
Video: Markets weaker but profits remain
Margins will be tighter next year, but most facets of farming will still be using the black ink cartridge, says Farm Credit Canada. J.P. Gervais, FCC’s chief agricultural economist, told Agri-Trend’s 2014 Farm Forum Event that grain and oilseed prices are down and input costs are up, but there is still money to be made […] Read more
Video: China’s soybean oil glut slows canola exports
Markets nervous | The government has ‘millions and millions of tonnes of rapeseed oil in tanks,’ says grain trader
Expect lacklustre canola sales to China next year, says a grain trader. Canola crush margins are terrible in China, and there isn’t much prospect of improvement. “We haven’t seen demand for months,” said Glen Pownall, managing director of Peter Cremer Canada. “I’ve been trading canola for a long, long time and I don’t think I’ve […] Read moreVideo: Non-GM flax variety in limbo
A breeding project that was supposed to bring flax into the 21st century has stalled. The Flax Council of Canada has stopped funding a multimillion-dollar project to develop a non-genetically modified herbicide tolerant line of flax. In 2010, the council announced with much fanfare that it had signed an agreement with Cibus Global to develop […] Read more
Flax group to tout health claim
The Flax Council of Canada is weeks away from launching a new website to promote its recently attained health claim from Health Canada. The healthyflax.org website will tell consumers and health-care professionals about the proven benefits of eating flax. The council announced in January that Health Canada had accepted its claim that eating ground whole […] Read more
Rebounding acres, higher levy ease financial pressure
Recovering from downturn | Flax council president says group may consider lower levy
The Flax Council of Canada is on better financial footing thanks to a levy increase and a rebound in acres. Acres plummeted after the 2009 discovery of an unwanted GM flax variety in the seed supply decimated sales to Europe. A market that accounted for two-thirds of Canadian flax exports before the discovery of CDC […] Read moreFNA takes on partner to expand in U.S.
Farmers of North America is partnering with AgraCity Crop and Nutrition in an effort to expand its membership base in the United States. AgraCity is a crop input distributor that supplies products to FNA. The two companies will work together to recruit FNA members south of the border. The initial target will be farmers in […] Read more
Video: Industry praises flax growers for reducing Triffid from system
The Flax Council of Canada says growers have made tremendous strides in ridding the system of an unwanted genetically modified variety. “We’ve come a long way,” said council president Don Kerr. “We’re still seeing the odd positive test, but the numbers are reduced considerably.” The industry has found 20 positive Triffid tests out of 2,000 […] Read more
Booming pea sales expected to slow
Bangladesh a ‘binge buyer’ | Sales to country could be further evidence of poor Indian crop
Bangladesh has emerged as a top buyer of Canadian peas in 2014-15, but don’t expect that to last, says an analyst. The country, which is sandwiched between India and Myanmar, bought 302,841 tonnes of Canadian peas over the first two months of the marketing campaign. It ranks second behind India, which bought 389,539 tonnes during […] Read moreForeign group testing ownership rules
Skyline Agriculture Financial Corp. | Group’s plan could open Sask. to more foreign investment
A landmark case is in front of the courts that could forever change the way Saskatchewan farmland is bought and sold. Skyline Agriculture Financial Corp. and three of its subsidiaries are challenging a Saskatchewan Farm Land Security Board (FLSB) ruling preventing the company from owning 15 acres of land in the province. The non-Canadian owned […] Read more
