(Dave Bedard photo)

Canadian flax prices, exports going up

MarketsFarm — High demand and an accompanying increase in overseas exports have resulted in reduced domestic supply for Canadian flaxseed, helping drive prices for the crop to highs unseen in years. Marlene Boersch, owner of Mercantile Consulting Venture in Winnipeg, said the amount of flax from Canada going to the U.S. and European Union is […] Read more

(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Railways overshoot grain revenue limits for 2019-20

Grain revenues run $5.3 million over caps, CTA rules

Canada’s big two railways have about two more weeks to hand over about $5.6 million in Prairie grain revenue overages and related penalties for the 2019-20 crop year. The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) on Dec. 22 ruled Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) each overshot their maximum revenue entitlements (MREs) for the […] Read more


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Four-way Seeds Canada merger approved

Four organizations to amalgamate in February without CSGA on board

A merger of four Canadian seed industry organizations has been cleared to proceed without its fifth partner. Members of the Canadian Plant Technology Agency (CPTA), Commercial Seed Analysts Association of Canada (CSAAC), Canadian Seed Institute (CSI) and Canadian Seed Trade Association (CSTA) have voted in favour of amalgamation, the groups announced Wednesday. An inaugural board […] Read more

File photo of a rye field in Kazakhstan. (Stsmhn/iStock/Getty Images)

Beware of Kazakhs wanting to buy seed, agency says

Seed growers and farmers alike are being warned such sales breach breeders' rights rules

Western Canadian seed growers, seed retailers and commercial farmers are being urged not to sell seed to Kazakhs or their agents because it breaches plant breeders’ rights rules. “The basic fact is no Canadian breeder has given permission for their genetics to go to Kazakhstan,” Lorne Hadley, executive director of the Canadian Plant Technology Agency, […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Flax facing tightening supplies

MarketsFarm — Solid export demand has pushed Canadian flax prices up sharply over the past month, with the market working to ration demand amid expectations for tightening supplies. The flax market in general is “just gone crazy. We’re up 50 per cent since the start of harvest,” Scott Shiels of Grain Millers Canada at Yorkton, […] Read more

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StatsCan stocks report shows lower lentils, durum, canola

Lentil supply picture 'extremely tight'

MarketsFarm — Statistics Canada’s stocks of principal field crops report detailed tight ending stocks for lentils durum and canola. As of July 31, lentil stocks totalled just 61,000 tonnes, down by 91.5 per cent from last year. Exports were up by over 30 per cent year-over-year, which accounted for some of the decrease. “It’s an […] Read more



(Dave Bedard photo)

Merged Manitoba crop groups qualify for checkoffs

Manitoba Crop Alliance also names top brass

The new unit formed from the merger of five Manitoba crop commodity organizations is set to begin collecting checkoffs for its founding groups’ crops, starting Aug. 1. The Manitoba Crop Alliance (MCA) announced Monday it now has its designation under the provincial Agricultural Producers’ Organization Funding Act. The designation allows the new organization to collect […] Read more


(File photo by Lorraine Stevenson)

Farmer deliveries well above average in April

MarketsFarm — Farmer deliveries of major grains into the Canadian commercial pipeline were up substantially in April, hitting their third-highest monthly total on record, according to updated data Statistics Canada released Monday. Farmers in April delivered 5.868 million tonnes of major grains, about a million tonnes above the monthly average during the 2019-20 crop-year-to-date, and […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Adjustments likely ahead for StatsCan’s early acreage estimates

Projections still in line with grain trade's expectations

MarketsFarm — The results of the first acreage estimates for 2020 from Statistics Canada come with an asterisk, as the COVID-19 pandemic halted data collection early. Canada’s actual seeded area is expected to see some shifts from the projections released Thursday. “As a result of the timing of the COVID-19 pandemic, these estimates were produced […] Read more