Canada’s annual inflation rate in July rose 0.1 percentage point to 1.3 percent, pushed up mostly by higher transportation prices, which rose 2.7 percent year-over-year. Gasoline prices rose by 6.1 percent on an annualized basis, compared with 4.6 percent in June. Food prices rose just 0.8 percent, the smallest year-on-year increase since June 2010.
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Transportation costs boost inflation
Australia’s wheat estimate rises
PERTH, Australia (Reuters) — Western Australia’s wheat production is set to rise 25 percent in the 2013-14 year, with rains last month likely to boost output, CBH Group, the state’s largest grain handler said last week. The state, Australia’s biggest exporter of wheat, despite having the driest June on record will produce 7.5 million tonnes […] Read more
Food safety fears send Chinese to online grocers
Internet marketing | Online sales of fresh produce could reach $6.8 billion in five years, says a Chinese analyst
BEIJING, China (Reuters) — Chinese consumers are responding to a powerful new marketing tactic that plays to a widespread fear of food contamination: the promise of safe groceries sold online. Vendors who pledge produce direct from the farm have found that food is becoming one of the fastest-growing segments of internet retailing as they cash […] Read moreFrench hope egg exports ease crisis
PARIS, France (Reuters) — French egg producers, faced with a slump in prices linked to overproduction, said they would remove 15 million eggs from the domestic market and seek to benefit from low prices to conquer new export markets. Egg prices soared in 2011 and early 2012 due to a lack of supplies as farmers […] Read more
Nitrogen shipments rise
Fertilizer use | Expert concerned about nutrient runoff
Nitrogen use on prairie farms continues to rise as growers across the West look to boost crop production and increase revenue. Statistics Canada’s fertilizer shipments survey shows the amount of nitrogen shipped to western Canadian markets increased by about 30 percent during the six-year period ending June 2012. Total nitrogen shipments to the Prairies in […] Read moreCloning provides new weapon as threatening stem rust looms
Ug99 Scientists warn that stem rust resistant wheat varieties in Canada may be susceptible to the virulent strain spreading around the world
The work of American researchers should provide plant breeders with new tools in the fight against the Ug99 race of wheat stem rust. Ug99 has been identified as a threat to world food security. In separate reports recently published in the journal Science, re-searchers from the University of California, Davis, document how they introduced Ug99 […] Read moreCrop report
Manitoba Warm temperatures have improved crop development. Harvest of spring wheat, oats and barley has begun in the central and eastern regions. Southwest Some preharvest desiccation work has started on crops. Canola, corn and soybean development has been helped by warm weather. Disease pressure from fusarium head blight and sclerotinia are at low to moderate […] Read more
Conference board pushes for school meal program
Close to two million Canadians are food-insecure and as part of the solution, governments across Canada should create and support school meal program, says the Conference Board of Canada. Containing and if possible eradicating food insecurity and poverty should be a key component of any national food strategy, the private research think tank argues in […] Read more
Alberta crop report as of Aug. 29
Peace Hay producers have struggled all summer to put up hay. Some hay has been abandoned, but good, hot weather has helped. Grass seed is coming off dry. Timothy and brome grass yields are strong and harvest is progressing. Canola maturity ranges dramatically in the region. Some canola is being swathed while other fields will […] Read more
Sask. crops look large; harvest progress behind average
Harvest has begun across Saskatchewan. The last few weeks of hot, dry weather has been good news for crop development and alleviated frost concerns. All areas are reporting that harvest is underway. As of Aug. 26, five percent of the crop had been combined and 14 percent had been swathed or was ready to straight […] Read more
