What happens when you’ve got debts to pay, you need income to support your family and every year is a hand-to-mouth experience? You sell your crops right after harvesting so that you know you can cover those debts, support your family and survive for another year. You think you can’t afford to gamble with losses […] Read more
Tag Archives Hedge Row — page 2
Queen symbolized a stability that helps Canada succeed
Seeing the centuries-old machinery of ritual whir into gear upon the death of Queen Elizabeth and the accession of King Charles is an awesome, perplexing, soothing or enraging sight, depending upon your outlook. As a supporter of evolutionary development and stability, as well as a person who sees great riches in our heritage, I’m one […] Read more
Book provides an insider’s view from atop the ag castle
An enormous structure looms over the farmers who farm the fields of Western Canada, the millions of tonnes of grain they grow, and the millions of people around the world who depend on their crops. That structure consists of companies, ports, regulations, governments, money, power and politics, but it’s something farmers can usually only peer […] Read more
Inflation is brewing up a spending hangover
Man, beer has gotten expensive. That was one of the things I thought the other evening when I met a colleague for a couple of brews on a pleasant patio. We were drinking fancy local brews rather than off-the-shelf main market brands, and those are more expensive, but still, beer ain’t as cheap as it […] Read more
Just-in-time delivery system faces new resiliency challenge
Another rail disruption has given farmers yet more reason to worry about agriculture’s vulnerability to supply chain breakdowns. We were already worried about access to fertilizer, farm chemicals, livestock feed and other crucial inputs this spring. That was before: “Trucker” protests blocked border crossings. Russia invaded Ukraine. China began losing control of COVID and locking […] Read more
How to manage high crop prices and higher interest rates
With any luck, farmers will be blessed with average weather and normal field conditions this year. If prices and demand hold up, farmers don’t need more than an average crop to reap a great return. If farmers are so blessed, they’ll have some pleasant but tough decisions about where to put their profits. For those […] Read more
Price limits blamed for futures market volatility
Practice intended to prevent extreme price changes, but study finds it causes liquidity to fall in futures, options markets
Futures markets protect price discovery and liquidity by imposing price limit controls, right? Nope, says a new analysis by Xinyue He and Teresa Serra of the University of Illinois published by the American Journal of Agricultural Economics Feb. 21. “We find that price limits neither reduce volatility nor improve liquidity,” they wrote. Instead, they add […] Read more
Interprovincial trade barriers require concerted effort
We spend a lot of time complaining about foreign trade barriers and defending our own barriers to foreign imports. But maybe there’s a closer way to liberalize agriculture trade. “It almost feels like we’ve forgotten to take care of business here at home,” said Jared Carlberg, a University of Manitoba agricultural economist during a panel […] Read more
Strategies urged that provide both security and potential
This bull market in crops is a great laboratory of market signals. It’s been explosive and dramatic, surprising virtually everybody with its strength. And many of those signals have been conflicting. Technicals, supply-and-demand fundamentals, historical patterns, intercrop price ratios, and trends have been sending signals that don’t easily fit together. Mike Jubinville of MarketsFarm laid […] Read more
Crop market rally will come as a major relief for farmers
Enjoy this rally, grain farmers, you deserve it. The massive crop market rally that began in late summer will probably last at least until midsummer, and maybe all the way through the 2021-22 crop year. South American crops are struggling with the cancer of La Nina, many of the world’s crop stockpiles are falling, China […] Read more
