Foreign exchange fees avoided | Researcher predicts increase in Canadian agricultural exports
Canada will be the first country in the Americas to have a clearing bank with China, smoothing trade with the second most valuable market for Canadian agricultural exports. The renminbi is the official Chinese currency, often referred to as the yuan. The clearing bank is part of a series of measures adopted by China and […] Read more
Sean Pratt
Stories by Sean Pratt
Ukraine bows out of world pea market
Shifts to soybeans Canada remains the ‘giant bear’ among pea exporting countries, says analyst
Ukrainian farmers are getting out of peas in a big way. Production has fallen more than 40 percent over the last decade, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service. Ukrainian farmers are expected to produce 267,000 tonnes of peas this year, similar to the previous year’s output. To put […] Read more
Fall good time to buy fertilizer
Farmers are better off buying fertilizer in fall or winter rather than waiting until spring 90 percent of the time, according to Alberta Agriculture. The department has tracked urea, ammonia and phosphate prices for the past 10 years. “There has only been one year, and that was in 2008, that spring prices were lower than […] Read more
Canadian grown peas moving at record pace
India driving speedy sales | Large export numbers today may benefit farmers who hold on to peas into the winter months
Exporters are shipping out peas at a frantic pace, which should lead to a firming of prices through the winter months, say analysts. Bulk shipments exceeded one million tonnes through Week 13 of the 2014-15 marketing year, up 49 percent over the same time last year. That doesn’t include container shipments. “Probably by the end […] Read moreBreeder annoyed GM given credit for yield hikes
Assumptions called misleading | Give ‘plain old plant breeding’ credit for corn yield increases, not GM technology: researcher
Brian Rossnagel is tired of proponents of genetically modified crops attributing all the yield increases in corn, soybeans and canola to biotechnology. “They overstate the case,” said the retired University of Saskatchewan oat and barley breeder. Groups such as the U.S. National Association of Wheat Growers are making the case for GM wheat by pointing […] Read more
Dip in EU oilseed output could spur Canada’s exports
Ukraine’s rapeseed crop also down Australia could fill the gap, leaving Canada to take over Chinese markets
The International Grains Council is forecasting declining winter rapeseed production in the European Union and Ukraine. It could mean Europe will have to import more Australian canola next year, which would allow Canada to export more to China. The council estimates EU plantings will fall by four percent to 16 million acres, the lowest level […] Read more
RNA technology may offer resistance help
Weed resistance tool | Technique could spray weeds to make them susceptible again
Monsanto is field testing what Robb Fraley, the company’s chief technology officer, considers one of the most exciting agricultural innovations he has seen. BioDirect technology is a way to create biological pesticides by topically applying double-stranded ribonucleic acid (RNA) to organisms to control gene expression in plants or pathogens. The double-stranded RNA attacks messenger RNA […] Read more
Legumex acquires new partner
Now working with Scoular | Business arrangement concerns Legumex’s canola plant in Washington
Legumex Walker has a new grain industry partner for its canola and special crops businesses. The company terminated its relationship with CHS Inc. and entered into a new arrangement with the Scoular Co., which will now buy all the seed, sell all the meal and assist with oil sales at its Pacific Coast Canola crushing […] Read moreHeed rotations, switch pulses to keep root rot at bay: expert
Soil born disease | The pathogen chokes the roots, depriving the plants of nutrients
Growers need to start using best management practices to stop the spread of the pulse industry’s version of clubroot, says an expert. Aphanomyces, a highly virulent root rot disease that attacks annual and perennial legumes, is making its way across the Prairies. The pathogen, which was first confirmed in Saskatchewan in 2012, was discovered in […] Read moreMarkets rebounding
Grain markets have bottomed out and are embarking on a long-term bull run, says a leading analyst. DTN senior analyst Darin Newsom said corn and soybeans experienced a bullish key reversal in October, ending a two-year downward price spiral and ushering in a new bullish era for grains and oilseeds. A bullish key reversal happens […] Read more
