(Photo illustration: Reuters/Dado Ruvic)

Bayer, Corteva among companies stepping off Facebook

Major firms pledge to pause advertising for July

A couple of major players in the agriculture sector are on an expanding list of major companies pausing advertising on Facebook for the month of July in pursuit of policy changes at the U.S.-based social media giant. Bayer and Corteva Agriscience recently announced they have joined the #stophateforprofit campaign, backed by organizations including the Anti-Defamation […] Read more


South West Terminal’s Antelope facility, about 45 km southwest of Swift Current, Sask., last month set the record for the largest grain train loaded and launched on the Prairies from a single point of origin, with this 224-car train of durum wheat. (SWT.ca)

Solid grain exports continue through Thunder Bay

June's handle includes record-large CP grain train

MarketsFarm — Grain shipments through the Port of Thunder Bay continue to run at a strong pace, with season-to-date volumes of 3.2 million tonnes, up 35 per cent from the five-year average, according to an update from the port. A total of 866,066 tonnes of grain were shipped through the port, located on the northern […] Read more

(TopconPositioning.com)

Brandt deal for Topcon distributor in Ontario falls through

GeoShack says will remain 'independently owned'

A proposal that would have made farm equipment maker Brandt the exclusive dealer for Topcon GPS equipment in Canada has fallen through without a sealed deal. GeoShack Canada, the “master dealer” for TopCon equipment in Ontario through its locations in Toronto, Ottawa and London, announced Tuesday that a completed acquisition by the Regina-based Brandt Group […] Read more


An image created by Nexu Science Communication, together with Trinity College in Dublin, shows a model structurally representative of a betacoronavirus, the type of virus linked to COVID-19. (Nexu Science Communication via Reuters)

Food exporters sign safety declarations in lieu of virus-free guarantees

Reuters — U.S. food and feed exporters are shipping goods to China with letters assuring the safety of their cargo in lieu of official declarations requested by Chinese authorities that guarantee coronavirus-free shipments, a U.S. agricultural export group said on Friday. The commitment statements, drafted by the Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC), are meant only to […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Attention turns to yield potential after StatsCan report

Future tweaks to acreage numbers seen as unlikely to sway markets

MarketsFarm — Updated acreage estimates from Statistics Canada came largely within market expectations, with the focus now shifting to growing conditions and yield potential. The survey was completed in early June “and may not have captured all of the seeding delays and potential shifts that may have happened in central/northern Alberta and northwestern Saskatchewan because […] Read more


File photo of an Alberta wheat field. (ImagineGolf/E+/Getty Images)

StatsCan survey shows bump up in wheat acres, particularly durum

Farmers back off canola, soybeans; pandemic expected to cause other problems for ag

Ottawa | Reuters — Canadian farmers planted slightly more wheat overall in 2020 than in 2019, but the coronavirus outbreak will pose “unique challenges” in the production and distribution of crops, Statistics Canada said on Monday. Farmers planted 25 million acres of wheat, up 1.5 per cent from 2019, thanks in part to a 16.2 […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canola Council of Canada)

Canola area expected to be lower in Monday’s StatsCan report

Later-seeded areas expected to add pulse, barley, durum acres

MarketsFarm — Market participants generally expect canola acreage will be revised downward in a second acreage estimate due out Monday from Statistics Canada. “There’s a lot of uncertainty about canola acres,” Ken Ball of P.I. International in Winnipeg said, noting acreage was “definitely lost” in central and northern Alberta due to wet spring conditions. In […] Read more