(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Klassen: Barley price forecasts enhance feeder cattle demand

Recent rains nearly guarantee at least average yields

Compared to last week, western Canadian yearling prices were relatively unchanged. Heifer and steer calves were quoted steady to $3 lower on average but the market was harder to define due to limited numbers. Small packages of calves of various quality resulted in the wide-ranging price structure. Buying interest for grassers appears to have subsided. […] Read more



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

CN service continues as signals staff strike

Talks continue after IBEW-represented employees stopped work Saturday

Canadian National Railway is reporting “normal” rail operations after its signals and communications workers walked out on strike starting Saturday. Members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), which represents about 750 CN employees across Canada, served the railway with strike notice last Wednesday and started their strike Saturday morning, the company said. IBEW […] Read more

A mobile biomass densification system, developed at PAMI in Portage la Prairie and shown here in a 2012 video, was used to process biomass such as straw into solid blocks, for ease of transport or for use in biomass burners. (BioScience Association Manitoba video screengrab via YouTube)

PAMI to close Portage la Prairie location

Revenue challenges in recent years blamed for Manitoba site's closure

The product development, testing and design firm Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute (PAMI), will be closing its Portage la Prairie, Man. location at the end of July. Citing revenue challenges in recent years as the reason for downsizing, the institute informed staff and clients of the closure of its River Road facility in Portage, prior to […] Read more


(File photo by Dave Bedard)

U.S. EPA ordered to reassess glyphosate impact on health, environment

Decision doesn't prohibit Roundup's use

Reuters — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was ordered by a federal appeals court on Friday to take a fresh look at whether glyphosate, the active ingredient in Bayer’s Roundup herbicide, poses unreasonable risks to humans and the environment. In a 3-0 decision, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with several environmental, farmworker […] Read more

(Thinkstock photo)

Prairie cash wheat: Bids firm as loonie falls

MarketsFarm — Spring wheat bids in Western Canada moved higher during the week ended Thursday, as heavy losses in the Canadian dollar more than countered the bearish influence of weakening U.S. futures. Average Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS, 13.5 per cent protein) wheat prices were up by $4.50-$7.40 per tonne during the week ended Thursday, […] Read more



CME July 2022 wheat (candlesticks) with 20- and 50-day moving averages (green and black lines), MGEX July 2022 spring wheat (yellow line) and K.C. July 2022 hard red wheat (orange line). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Wheat falls on harvest pressure, firmer U.S. dollar

Hot Midwest spell raises early concerns about corn, soy yields

Indianapolis | Reuters — Chicago wheat futures fell on Friday, erasing gains earlier in the week as harvest pressure weighs and a firmer dollar limits export business, traders said. Corn inched higher, finding a fresh one-month high, supported by hot weather in the U.S. Midwest that could threaten crops, while soybeans traded near even heading […] Read more


CME August 2022 live cattle (candlesticks) with 20-day moving average (pink line) and October 2022 live cattle (dark red line). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME live cattle up on rising cash prices

Lean hogs up in pre-long weekend trade

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures closed stronger on Friday on rising cash prices, while lean hog futures hit two-week highs, analysts said. Feeder cattle futures also ended firmer. The markets advanced as U.S. stocks bounced back from a sharp selloff in the prior session. Losses in equities and concerns about […] Read more

WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is congratulated by India’s commerce minister Piyush Goyal after the June 17, 2022 closing session of a WTO ministerial conference in Geneva. (Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/Pool via Reuters)

WTO strikes global trade deals deep into overtime

Deals reached on food security, health and fishing; formerly defiant India joins consensus

Geneva | Reuters — The World Trade Organization’s 164 members approved a series of trade agreements early on Friday that included commitments on fish and pledges on health and food security after more than five gruelling days of negotiations. The deals were ground out over five days of bargaining at a conference of more than […] Read more