The backyard hen program that was started this summer at a long-term care home in an Alberta hamlet aims to bring a bit of farm life into the residents’ daily living.  |  Joan Mudryk photo

Chickens move into Alta. long-term care home

The new arrivals roam the enclosed grounds, providing another way for facility staff to engage the 13 current residents

Nestled between rolling grainland and native pasture, far from a major city or town, lies the hamlet of Islay, Alta. There are no stores or services, other than a post office, but there is an assisted living facility that opened in the early 1990s. Like many small communities in Alberta, lack of doctors and rising […] Read more

Cargill's three-year funding will allow each mentee access to up to a $3,000 travel budget, an increase of $1,000 each, and also helps to fund mentors’ attendance at the annual CYL graduation at the Canadian Beef Industry Conference with their mentee. | Screencap via canadiancattleyoungleaders.ca

Cargill funds CYL program

Cargill has become a platinum partner of the Canadian Cattle Young Leaders Program. The company’s three-year funding will allow each mentee access to up to a $3,000 travel budget, an increase of $1,000 each, and also helps to fund mentors’ attendance at the annual CYL graduation at the Canadian Beef Industry Conference with their mentee. […] Read more

Agricultural merchants like privately held Cargill face challenges as prices of the commodity crops they trade approach four-year lows and crop processing margins have fallen. | File photo

Cargill plans overhaul after earnings fall short of targets

An internal company document says less than a third of the firm’s businesses met their earnings goal in fiscal 2024

BEIJING/SINGAPORE (Reuters) — Global trading house Cargill will undergo structural changes after missing internal earnings goals, with plans to streamline operations into three units instead of five, according to an internal company document seen by Reuters and two company sources. Agricultural merchants like privately held Cargill face challenges as prices of the commodity crops they […] Read more


The official launch of the funding campaign to establish the Global Agriculture Technology Exchange (GATE) has been postponed, with Cereals’ Canada’s June 27 board meeting expected to clarify which members are staying and which might leave. | Screencap via gate-canada.ca

Membership crisis rocks Cereals Canada

WINNIPEG — Several members of Cereals Canada are on the verge of quitting the organization, jeopardizing plans to build a major new ag tech centre in Winnipeg. The official launch of the funding campaign to establish the Global Agriculture Technology Exchange (GATE) has been postponed, with Cereals’ Canada’s June 27 board meeting expected to clarify […] Read more

The fourth-quarter earnings results come as Bunge works to close a deal to acquire Viterra by midyear, a merger that would create an agribusiness powerhouse closer in size to its chief rivals Cargill and Archer-Daniels-Midland. | Screencap via bunge.com/Brandon Stengel

Bunge beats profit estimates

CHICAGO, Ill. (Reuters) — Bunge Global SA recently beat Wall Street estimates with a record fourth-quarter adjusted profit as strong oilseed processing results boosted its core agribusiness division. However, the company forecast a drop in adjusted profit in the year ahead due to narrowing crush margins. The fourth-quarter earnings results come as Bunge works to […] Read more


A newly-released report examining companies working in the plant-based protein industry revealed that there are some significant hurdles to overcome for those plants to be successful. | Screencap via smartprosperity.ca

Protein sector faces labour crunch: report

SASKATOON — Government, industry and educational institutes must act now to address the labour challenges confronting the emerging plant-based protein industry in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, according to a new report. “The danger here might be that the sector might not live up to its potential,” said Nicholas Renzetti, research associate with Smart Property Institute, the […] Read more

Canadian canola is currently US$45 per tonne higher than other major exporters, such as Australia, which is keeping it out of some markets.  |  File photo

‘Expensive’ canola results in imports

ST JEAN BAPTISTE, Man. — It was probably the last thing that farmers, burned by canola prices that have tumbled by more than $200 per tonne since summer, wanted to hear. “We have been too expensive,” Jenessa Peristerakis, a senior grain marketing adviser at Cargill, said during the St Jean Farm Days in Manitoba. As […] Read more

Producers are advised not to assume their regular elevator point is always going to be offering them the best price because elevators can range widely in what they need and what they’ll pay.  |  File photo

Thin profits require sharp thinking from farmers this year

Nobody’s expecting to make big profits in 2024-25, but that’s no reason to think some profitability can’t be squeezed out of this lemon. As Jenessa Peristerakis of Cargill said to growers at St Jean Farm Days Jan. 11: “There will be opportunities in bear markets.” There always are. So how do you set yourself up […] Read more


The program is part of a federal initiative and network of living labs across Canada, which uses a producer centred approach to agricultural innovation. | Screencap via peacelivinglab.ca

Cargill supports Alta. living lab

A financial contribution from Cargill will help the Peace Region Living Lab strengthen its on-farm innovation and research activities and sharing events. The program is part of a federal initiative and network of living labs across Canada, which uses a producer centred approach to agricultural innovation. It brings together farmers and ranchers with scientists and […] Read more

The Cargill sign on the side of a concrete inland terminal in Davidson, Sask.

Cargill reports higher revenue

(Reuters) — Global commodities trader Cargill Inc. reported recently that its fiscal year 2023 revenue increased seven percent from a year earlier to $177 billion, the highest ever for the 158-year-old company. Privately held Cargill’s strong result was the latest for a global farm commodities trader after publicly traded peers Archer-Daniels-Midland and Bunge both reported […] Read more