Tag Archives Commodities

Today’s a grey, cold day. I hear widespread reports of a killing frost snuffing out the hopes for immature crops across the prairies. And I’m about to fly across western Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan – acreas hit hard by bad seeding and harvesting conditions. It could be a dreary day, so I’m going to think […] Read more

The Farmer’s Share events of a couple of days ago have me thinking of the local markets we could have, but choose not to serve. Farm orgs in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have been funding analysis of how much of a representative family’s food budget ends up in the farmers’ pocket, and what three years […] Read more

Usually when I got off for a week or two of holidays, the markets sharply rally. I take that as the gods’ sign to the masses that my presence keeps prices low and conditions dreary. Fortunately, that phenomenon does not appear to have occurred in the past two weeks, most of which I was off. […] Read more

One thing I’m not covering a lot these days is the hog industry crisis. That’s because profitability has returned to the industry and those who are left in it are busily rebuilding their balance sheets and getting used to the almost-forgotten feeling of being able to focus on production and pigs rather than on banks […] Read more

For two days it’s been raining here in Winnipeg, with clashes of thunder scaring my dogs, delighting my children and making the world seem grey, menacing, cold and unpromising. Here’s a good description of the situation: “The thunder was continuous. The lighning went on and off as though a child were playing with a switch. […] Read more

As always happens, whenever I go away for a couple of weeks of holidays the markets get exciting. Fortunately I was still around when the Russians slammed the door shut on their wheat exporters, which began a round of fun and commotion that’s still going on today. Wheat’s been wild, upping and downing itself on […] Read more

When’s mediocrity a good thing? When the word describes this year’s prairie field crops, that’s when. And that’s what the Canadian Wheat Board thinks is coming this fall – if frost doesn’t nip it early. The board did its year-end shindig this morning and gave its current estimate of the prairie wheat and barley crops. […] Read more

What’s up with Viterra this week? Take a look at this five-day chart of its stock price: That’s a nice little run-up in price. And it’s even more impressive when you look all the way back to the start of this 2010th year of our lord: It’s been a pretty straight slide down this year […] Read more

It’s amazing how an event can send positive sentiments surging. I remember the lift I got when I arrived in London in 1985 for a summer holiday with my parents on the day that Live Aid was being held. I dropped my suitcase off at Uncle John’s, ran for the tube station, got to Wembley, […] Read more

If you’ve been busy tending to your crops, you might have missed the recent rocket rally in canola. So here it is: Today canola is fighting with the resistance level of $460 per tonne, so it’s crucial day in the life of this rally. That red line is a simple moving average, which I included […] Read more