NEW DELHI, June 2 (Reuters) – India on Tuesday cut this year’s monsoon forecast to 88 percent of the long-term average, prompted by an El Nino weather pattern and raising fears of the first drought in six years in a country where nearly half of farmland lacks irrigation. If it happens, the drought would mark […] Read more
Stories by Western Producer staff
Judicious glyphosate use, not total ban is better solution
Make no mistake — the loss of glyphosate would be astonishingly expensive and bad for agriculture. There are several camps among the myriad lobby groups, internet sites and self-described health campaigners that would have the public believe otherwise, but there can be no other outcome if an outright ban were to be implemented. And as […] Read more
Responsible irrigation essential to prevent public backlash
Pity the California almond growers who, collectively, have become the whipping boys for the backlash against drought-induced water restrictions in that formerly lush state. According to some calculations, it takes 1.1 gallons of water (4.6 litres) to produce a single almond. When California state legislators invoked water restrictions that excluded agricultural use, social media was […] Read more
Fire kills four children
A house fire in southern Manitoba has killed four children, fire officials say. Fire chief Bernard Schellenberg said two adults were taken to hospital Feb. 23. Three other children survived, the blaze broke, which broke out at about 2 a.m. near Morris, Man. Ralph Groening from Morris, Man., said the two adults were parents to […] Read more
Soybeans fall on USDA report. corn edges higher
Reports released by the United States Department of Agriculture Monday were a little bullish for corn, bearish for soybeans and mixed for wheat. After the report soybeans future fell more than two percent, giving back ground built up from the multi-day pre report rally. Corn edged slightly higher after the USDA report. Wheat was a […] Read more
Canola rises on soyoil strength, weak loonie, corn falls on ethanol problem
ICE Canada canola futures rose on Wednesday, supported by stronger soybean oil values and a weaker Canadian dollar, Reuters reported. Crushers were buying, but funds were on the sidelines. Most-active March canola tacked on 60 cents to $449.20 per tonne. The gain for March lagged deferred months, as modest farmer deliveries led to commercial hedging, […] Read more
ICE Canada canola dips, but edges higher for 2014
ICE Canada canola futures fell on the last day of the year, pressured in thin volume by weaker U.S. grain and oilseed markets, but the nearby contract posted a 2.9 percent gain in 2014. Canola expected to weaken in January, a trader said, as farmers pick up the selling pace. Cash prices have risen in […] Read more
Canola, soybeans fall in profit-taking despite smaller USDA stocks outlook
By Reuters News Agency And Western Producer staff U.S. soybeans fell more than one percent on Wednesday, reversing from an earlier one-month high in a profit-taking selloff in the wake of a U.S. Department of Agriculture report that showed smaller-than-expected ending stocks of the beans. ICE Futures Canada canola futures also fell, but not as […] Read more
Temporary foreign workers needed to support agriculture
Would-be employers flocked to an agricultural labour summit in Red Deer last week seeking solutions for worker shortages that threaten to limit production and potential in Western Canada. They found precious few of those solutions. Labour shortages at farms, feedlots, packing plants and other agricultural businesses have been a problem for years, but they were […] Read more
Short-line railways get shunted by ramp-up on main lines
It is clear that Ottawa had good intentions in March when it imposed regulations re-quiring Canada’s Class 1 railway carriers — Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway — to move a million tonnes of western Canadian grain each week to market or export position. But now that the regulations have been in place for […] Read more
