Robert and Harold are deep into numbers for the building projects at Heart of Africa Mission (HAM). There are several buildings there, two of which we helped start two years ago, that still need finishing. Some funding has come in to do the work, and the board has asked us to take charge of that. […] Read more
Opinion — page 691
Feb. 16, 2009
Off the cliff
Want to see what it looks like when “outside markets” push ag commodities off the cliff? Just look at any of the nearby charts on North American ag commodity exchanges today. (www.cbot.com, www.mgex.com, www.kcbt.com, www.theice.com) Wheat, corn, soybeans opened with a gap down – soybeans especially – and have plummeted since. In Chicago corn is […] Read more
Demand versus production destruction
Japan’s economy shrank at a 12.7 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2008. KABOOM!!!!!!!! Oil producers around the world are mothballing facilities, scaling back new projects and putting off necessary maintenance. KABOOM!!!!!!!!!! Which one of these factors is going to have a bigger impact on the world commodity supply and demand balance? That’s […] Read more
Gauging assumptions
At this time everyone’s trying to figure out what producers are going to plant this spring. Farmers themselves are all trying to suss out what everyone else is going to grow, with many wanting to grow something different in the hopes of a future shortage. To figure out what farmers are planning to grow, analysts […] Read more
Feb. 13, 2009
Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. The shops downtown all have bright red clothing displayed in the windows — tops, skirts, trousers (don’t call them pants here – they’ll think you’re talking about underwear.) Young men try to sell plastic roses to anyone parked with their car window open. It’s hot, but we quickly close the window […] Read more
The good book is a source for names – Editorial Notebook
If you’d like to increase milk production in a dairy herd, there is apparently a no-cost way to do it. So indicates a recently released study reported in Anthrazoos, a British journal dedicated to the interactions of animals and people. Scientists at Britain’s Newcastle University found that giving cows a name can increase individual animals’ […] Read more
Good fences make good neighbours, but … – The Moral Economy
ALARM bells sounded across Canada when the U.S. government included a “buy American” clause in its multibillion-dollar financial bail-out package. Don’t they know that we are their largest single trading partner and their best neighbour? How could they do that to us when we’re already in an economic down-turn? President Barack Obama seems to have […] Read more
Letters to the editor
Marketing choice; Cat advice; Stop rhetoric; Ignatieff chance; MPs’ judgment; Where’s whetstone; Railcar loss; No more corners; Pay it back; Farmer’s money; Freight overcharges Marketing choice I have read, heard first-hand from my father and our neighbours and lived a lot of it myself how people who settled in Western Canada had to work together […] Read more
Credit availability for your farm: how secure is your capital? – Perspectives on Management
Farming is capital intensive, but managing cash flow can be a challenge, especially in sectors dominated by seasonal operations and irregular sales. Farm businesses typically use debt to finance a significant portion of their capital needs. However, concerns are rising as America’s credit crisis starts to affect other countries, including Canada. The issue was originally […] Read more
CashPlus actions best thing to do – WP editorial
THE Canadian Wheat board has been under pressure for some time to become more responsive to farmers’ needs, while still obtaining the best possible returns for its farmer clients. That’s why its decision to halt future major sales from its malting barley pool and move all new bulk sales into its CashPlus program is the […] Read more
