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Alta. farmers near ready for seeding
Minimal seeding has occurred to date in Alberta, but the return of warm and drier conditions should see seeding operations fully underway in about a week’s time, according to a provincial crop specialist. “Some seeding has occurred in the extreme southern areas of the province so far, but I would say those operations are still […] Read more
Prairie canola crush margins improve
Crush margins for processors in Western Canada have once again improved, which is helping to maintain high demand for the commodity at local processors. “Based on my calculations, crush margins for canola basis the July contract have improved significantly over the past month to around the $40 per tonne area,” said Bill Craddock, a southern […] Read more
Seeding delays may help bolster Prairie sunflower acres
Delays in planting alternative crops this spring across Western Canada could translate into extra area being planted to sunflowers, according to an official with the National Sunflower Association of Canada (NSAC). “Because the crop insurance deadlines are later for sunflowers than other crops, we could see a switch to the crop this spring,” said Darcelle […] Read more
Ont. winter wheat survives in excellent condition
Winter wheat seeded in Ontario last fall is believed to have survived the winter in very good to excellent condition. “Overall there was little in the way of any winterkill reported so far this spring,” said Peter Johnson, a provincial cereal crop specialist at Stratford, Ont. Out of the 950,000 acres of winter wheat seeded […] Read more
Few surprises in StatsCan’s seeded area intentions
Statistics Canada’s first look at what farmers in Canada plan on seeding in the spring of 2013 yielded few surprises, despite the acreage projection for canola being smaller than anticipated and the all-wheat estimate coming in larger than expected. “The numbers will provide a good starting point to work with on paper, but weather, prices […] Read more
Late spring fuels uncertainty in StatsCan acreage ideas
Industry participants are certain we’ll see uncertainty in Statistics Canada’s first seeding intentions survey for the spring of 2013, given the late winter thaw, possibilities of flooding in some regions and resulting delays in planting crops. StatsCan’s planting intentions survey, conducted the week of March 25 to April 3 and due out Wednesday, included 13,805 […] Read more
Canola crush margins ease, processing pace stays strong
Crush margins for processors in Canada have eased to their lowest level in quite some time, but processing remains at a strong pace, according to industry sources. “Based on my calculations, crush margins for canola dropped to their lowest level in quite some time late last week to around the $23 per tonne area,” said […] Read more
Demand for Prairie red lentils picks up
Demand for Canadian red lentils has picked up recently, with the increase in business helping stimulate strength in the cash bids for the commodity. Cash bids for red lentils have climbed to around the 23- to 25-cent per pound area, depending on the region of the Prairies, confirmed Jackie Kress, senior grain buyer for Legumex-Walker. […] Read more
Canadian soybeans attract global demand
The high quality of Canadian-produced soybeans has led to development of some niche, and high-premium-paying, customers for the crop during the 2012-13 crop year — and expectations are for this feat to be repeated in the 2013-14 season starting at the end of this month. Federal funding of roughly $90,000 allowed the Canadian Soybean Council […] Read more
U.S. unlikely to comply with WTO COOL ruling by deadline
The U.S. government is not expected to comply with the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling requiring changes to its mandatory country-of-origin labelling (COOL) law on meats and certain other foods by a May 23 deadline. "The U.S. government could still pull a rabbit out of its hat and actually change the COOL regulations, but I […] Read more
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