(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Klassen: Feeder cattle supplies remain snug

Feedlots expect significantly cheaper barley come harvest

Compared to last week, western Canadian feeder cattle markets traded $3-$4 on either side of unchanged. Premium low-flesh yearlings were one off bids $15-$20 above average. Cattle buyers commented that there were larger volumes of fleshier yearlings. Cattle with heavier butter levels were discounted from our listed values by $5 to as much as $10. […] Read more

CBOT July 2023 soft red winter wheat with 20-day moving average, Minneapolis July 2023 hard red spring wheat (yellow line) and K.C. July 2023 hard red winter wheat (orange line). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Chicago wheat hits 25-month session low on good crop conditions

Market eyes talks on Black Sea grain corridor

Mexico City | Reuters — Chicago wheat hit a 25-month low in the session to close lower on Tuesday, on weather that looked good for U.S. crop development and improving crop conditions. Wheat has been pressured down in recent days after the winter wheat crop rating as of Sunday was up two points from the […] Read more


File photo of a pea crop south of Ethelton, Sask. on Aug. 1, 2019. (Dave Bedard photo)

Pulse weekly outlook: Seeding to start in Manitoba, Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan lentils expected to lose acres to wheat, canola

MarketsFarm — With the calendar turning to May and temperatures expected to surpass 20 C this week, pulse seedings are set to begin for parts of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. “Right now, we’re still in a bit of a holding pattern,” said Manitoba provincial pulse specialist Dennis Lange. “We haven’t really had much for drying. Now […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Fund short position in canola grows for first time in a month

Corn moves from net long to net short

MarketsFarm — After covering bearish bets for four straight weeks, managed money fund traders were back on the sell side of the canola market in late April, covering longs and putting on new short positions. According to the latest Commitments of Traders report from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), as of April 25, […] Read more


File photo of a CN locomotive. (Dave Bedard photo)

CN’s mechanics, intermodal staff ratify labour deal

Agreement averted strike in March

Mechanics, intermodal and clerical workers at Canadian National Railway (CN) who were on the brink of striking in March have voted to ratify the agreements that kept them off the picket line. Unifor, which represents about 3,000 CN employees, said Friday its members voted to ratify four new two-year collective bargaining agreements taking them through […] Read more

CME June 2023 live cattle with Bollinger bands (20,2). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Live cattle, lean hogs turn lower

August feeder cattle down second day

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s most-active live cattle and lean hog futures turned lower Monday on a down day overall in livestock trade. CME June live cattle ended lower Monday after three consecutive days’ climb, at one point dipping below their 10-day moving average before closing at 164.875 cents/lb., down 0.6 cents on the day (all […] Read more


CBOT July 2023 soft red winter wheat with 20-day moving average, Minneapolis July 2023 hard red spring wheat (yellow line) and K.C. July 2023 hard red winter wheat (orange line). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Wheat futures sink on rains, global supplies

U.S. winter wheat conditions likely improved in past week

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures tumbled to fresh lows on Monday on ample world supplies, sluggish U.S. export demand and beneficial rains in key production areas of the Plains and Midwest. Corn futures slumped on forecasts for favourable Midwest planting weather and lagging U.S. export sales, while soybeans edged higher in a technical […] Read more

File photo of picketing federal workers represented by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) at Gatineau, Que. on April 20, 2023. (Photo: Reuters/Blair Gable)

Federal workers reach tentative deal

Over 120,000 PSAC members back on job Monday

Over 120,000 striking federal government employees are expected to return to work starting Monday morning (May 1) after reaching tentative agreements overnight. The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) announced after midnight Monday it had reached tentative agreements for workers in four bargaining units who negotiate with the federal Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. Among […] Read more


(Orchidpoet/iStock/Getty Images)

Go bigger on interswitching pilot, grain groups urge Ottawa

Railways say the measure creates inefficiencies; farm groups say the opposite is true

Farm groups from across the country are asking producers to lobby federal ministers and MPs and urge them to super-size a government proposal for what’s called ‘extended interswitching.’ The measure, part of this spring’s federal budget, essentially gives grain shippers a choice in which railway they deal with (as long as the competitor’s line is […] Read more

(Limagrain.com)

Limagrain offers to buy out seed maker Vilmorin

Pride Seeds co-owner has majority stake in veg seed firm

Paris | Reuters — French agricultural co-operative Limagrain has offered to buy the 28.78 per cent of Vilmorin it does not already own in a deal that values one of the world’s biggest seed suppliers at 1.43 billion euros (C$2.13 billion). Limagrain said on Friday it was offering 62.60 euros per Vilmorin share, a premium […] Read more