(Photo: Reuters/Diego Vara)

Saskatchewan Crop Report: Dryness continues as harvest begins 

Since April 1, the entirety of the province received 200 mm or less of rain

MarketsFarm – With the exception of a handful of areas, most of Saskatchewan remained dry for the week ended July 31 as harvest operations began in the province’s southwest and west-central regions. Areas north of Prince Albert and northwest of Kindersley, as well as inside and around Hudson Bay each saw more than 30 millimetres […] Read more

ICE canola weekly outlook: Prices trending down ahead of harvest

ICE canola weekly outlook: Prices trending down ahead of harvest

Harvest pressure may not be that large this year says analyst

 MarketsFarm – ICE Futures canola contracts lost ground during the week ended Aug. 2, as spillover from outside markets and easing concerns over the state of the crop ahead of the harvest weighed on values. Excessive heat during the flowering period in June and July caused canola prices to climb higher, but the market is […] Read more


Mature winter wheat. (Allan Dawson photo)

Manitoba’s crops continue to hold up 

Hay yields generally below average; pasture conditions were deteriorating due to dryness

MarketsFarm – Timely rains in Manitoba have kept the province’s crops in relatively good shape, according to the latest crop report. Manitoba Agriculture said precipitation as of Aug. 1 amounted to as much as 73 millimeters around Zhoda in the southeast to 13 mm at The Pas in the north. Although several locales throughout the […] Read more

(File photo by Lorraine Stevenson)

Oilseed crush down, grain deliveries rise in June: StatCan

Canadian grain deliveries reached a three-month high in June

 Marketsfarm – Statistics Canada (StatCan) released its June oilseed crush and grain delivery statistics, showing a small decline for the former, but a large gain for the latter from the month before.  Oilseed processors in Canada crushed 772,345 tonnes of canola last month, as well as 139,164 tonnes of soybeans for the month of June […] Read more


Photo: Thinkstock

ICE weekly outlook: canola market heading towards choppy waters 

Markets will pause to see how the crops finish developing: analyst

Marketsfarm – While the recent gains in canola on the Intercontinental Exchange were likely generated by the spreaders, the market will probably become choppy, according to Ken Ball, trader with PI Financial in Winnipeg, Man.  “Spreaders for the last few days have been selling canola and buying soyoil,” Ball suggested in a July 26 interview, […] Read more

Photo: File

Fund position flips to net long in canola

The last time the market was showing a net long position was the first week of January

MarketsFarm – The managed money position in canola flipped from a net short to a net long for the first time in six months during the week ended July 18, as fund traders covered short positions and put on new bullish bets, according to the latest Commitments of Traders report from the United States Commodity […] Read more


Crop conditions in parts of western Saskatchewan have already dropped into crop insurance range, Burce Burnett says. (WeatherFarm video screengrab)

At Ag in Motion: Significant Prairie yield drop expected

'A lot of damage done' by drought, Bruce Burnett says

MarketsFarm has released its first yield estimates for Western Canada’s crops and the outlook is grim. Analyst Bruce Burnett just recently completed a crop tour covering most of Saskatchewan. “Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of good news on the crop front,” he told growers attending the Ag in Motion show in Langham, Sask. “There […] Read more

Kashika Sethi (l) and Rhea Thomas Thommana (r) were at Ag in Motion to represent food scientists Drs. Martin Reaney and Michael Nickerson and their 3D printer projects, including their work on printable protein-based materials, such as the pea-based “chicken leg” seen in the machine. (Becky Zimmer photo)

At Ag in Motion: 3D printer takes aim at food ingredients

Making foods both plant-based and printable the goal

With the development of 3D printing, the age of Star Trek replicators has arrived. For master’s student Rhea Thomas Thommana and PhD student Kashika Sethi, food replication is on the horizon as well. Thomas Thommana and Sethi were at Ag in Motion this week with a 3D printer designed to incorporate plant-based ingredients into food, […] Read more


Photo: Thinkstock

ICE weekly outlook: C$900 per tonne in reach for canola 

Black Sea deal's end, Russian attack on Odesa, pushing all prices up

MarketsFarm – Sporadic rainfall across the Prairies has not been enough to stop canola’s upward momentum during the week ended July 19, while a pair of other factors are fueling the oilseed’s rise.  The November canola contract went from settling below the C$800 per tonne mark (C$797.50/tonne) on July 12 to exceeding the C$850 mark […] Read more

(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Net short position nearly gone in canola

Traders still net short in CBOT wheat, corn

MarketsFarm — Speculative traders continue to exit their bearish bets in canola, with the net short position dipping below 4,000 in the latest Commitments of Traders report from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). As of July 11, the net managed money short position in canola futures came in at 3,899 contracts (34,124 short, […] Read more