(Deyana Robova photo/iStock/Getty Images)

U.S. livestock: CME lean hog futures reach one-week high

For beef processors, margins are worsening

Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange livestock futures rose on Friday, with the hog market reaching its highest price in a week as profit margins improved for pork processors. The hog market has turned higher after dropping to a one-week low on Wednesday. Most-active October lean hog futures LHV3 ended up 1.775 cents to […] Read more

Photo: Thinkstock

U.S. grains: grain, soy futures drop on milder US weather, with eyes on Black Sea

Markets have retreated since touching multi-week highs on Monday

Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Board of Trade grain and soybean futures fell to their lowest prices in more than a week on Friday on hopes that U.S. crop weather will improve and Russia will ease its attacks on Ukraine’s grain facilities, analysts said. Technical selling added pressure to prices. Heading into August, the key […] Read more


Lawrence Macaulay, seen here in a 2018 photo, is taking the ag minister post for the second time. Photo: supplied/minister’s office.

Ag leaders welcome MacAulay’s appointment as AAFC Minister   

The minister’s new role was part of the Liberal government’s recent cabinet shuffle 

Industry leaders and organizations are welcoming the July 26 announcement that veteran MP Lawrence McAulay will be taking over the post of Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food–and wasting no time calling him to action. It is the P.E.I. MP’s second time in the role, having previously held it between 2015 and 2019. MacAulay took over […] Read more

 PHOTO: Laura Rance

CGC repeals grading changes in response to producer complaints

The new regulations would have seen export grade standards applied to deliveries to country elevators

Days before implementation, the Canadian Grain Commission repealed grading changes in response to complaints from producer groups. In a news release, Friday, the CGC simply stated it was repealing the alignment of primary and export tolerances for test weight and total foreign materials for Canada Western Red Spring, Canada Western Hard White Spring, Canada Western Extra […] Read more


 (File photo: Reuters/Yoruk Isik)

Ukraine says Russia threatened civilian vessels in second week without grain deal

Ukraine has harvested 11.2 million tons of its 2023 grain crop

Kyiv | Reuters – A senior Ukrainian official accused Russia on Friday of threatening civilian vessels in the Black Sea, and urged the international community to condemn what he said were “the methods of terrorists”. Russia last week quit a U.N.-brokered deal allowing Ukraine, a major global grain producer, to safely export its grain via […] Read more

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Prairie cash wheat: durum soars as red spring falls back

Steep increases following Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports were gone by mid-week

MarketsFarm – There were sharp increases in durum across Western Canada for the week ended July 27, while spring wheat incurred small to moderate declines. There were gains in Minneapolis spring wheat, while Kansas City and Chicago winter wheat contracts slipped back. At the beginning of the week there were steep increases for wheat as […] Read more


Photo: MaksymTopchyi/iStock/Getty Images

Feed weekly outlook: wheat, barley prices still on the rise 

Demand for feed grains on the quiet side as feedlots order more United States corn says analyst

Marketsfarm – Variable crop conditions in Alberta and Saskatchewan are contributing to rising feed grain prices on the Prairies just weeks away from harvest.  Erin Harakal, trade manager for Agfinity Inc. in Stony Plain, Alta., said while conditions in the northern half of Alberta are good in some places, areas around Red Deer and parts […] Read more

  Photo: Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko/File

Saskatchewan crops a mixed bag 

Some cereal crops beyond harvesting with plans to salvage for feed

Marketsfarm – There was a wide mixture of the results in the latest crop report from Saskatchewan Agriculture. Parts of the province were hobbled by drought conditions, while other areas received upwards to 40 millimetres of rain following a series of thunderstorms during the week of July 18 to 26.  The desiccation of pulse crops […] Read more


Photo: iStock

Grain groups find common ground over grading changes

In a rare move, the Wheat Growers and Farmers Union are on the same side of an issue

Two producer groups ordinarily at the opposite ends of the ideological spectrum have teamed up and come out swinging against proposed changes to wheat grading. The Wheat Growers Association (WGA) and National Farmers’ Union (NFU)have issued a joint statement decrying changes that will take effect August 1 which would see the export grade standard applied […] Read more

Photo: Canada Beef Inc.

U.S. livestock: Live cattle futures mixed; feeders boosted as corn slumps

Chicago | Reuters – Feeder cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group (CME) ticked up again on Thursday, bolstered by continued weakness in corn futures Cv1, while live cattle futures were mixed on somewhat sluggish cash sales, analysts said. The U.S. Agriculture Department said on Thursday morning that export sales of beef rose to 21,400 […] Read more