Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures dropped for a second day, following U.S. boxed beef prices lower as seasonal demand cools. “You’re still seeing boxed beef pull back, which is normal, seasonally,” said Matthew Wiegand, Risk Management Consultant at FuturesOne. “We’re past the Fourth of July — we don’t have a […] Read more

U.S. livestock: CME live cattle ease as beef demand cools
CME lean hog futures mostly firm

U.S. grains: Soybeans, corn fall on cool, wet forecast
Wheat supported by dryness in northern Plains
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago soybean futures ended lower on Thursday, pressured by cool, rainy forecasts across the U.S. growing belt, though dryness in the upper Midwest continues to threaten developing crops. Corn eased as beneficial rains aided crops entering pollination, while wheat firmed as sparse moisture reached drought-hit spring wheat regions. The most-active soybean […] Read more

Feed weekly outlook: Alberta feed prices rising
MarketsFarm — Higher-than-normal temperatures and continued demand for feed have caused prices for Alberta feed barley and feed wheat to increase over the past few weeks. However, that demand has pulled back somewhat. According to Prairie Ag Hotwire data from Wednesday, high-delivered bids for Alberta feed barley were at $7.84 per bushel, 48 cents higher […] Read more

World Food Programme starts distributing food in Venezuela
Reuters — The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) said Wednesday it had begun distributing school meals to children in Venezuela, where some seven million people require humanitarian assistance after years of economic collapse in the once-prosperous OPEC nation. The WFP’s first take-home rations were distributed for children under six years old at some 277 schools […] Read more

Co-op, Blair’s joint venture to sell one crop input centre
Regulator sees overlap between Co-op, Blair's at Lipton
A new joint venture formed to run seven existing crop input retail centres in central and southeastern Saskatchewan will settle for six. The federal Competition Bureau on Wednesday announced an agreement with Federated Co-operatives (FCL) and the ag retail arm of the Saskatchewan-based Blair’s Family of Companies toward approval of their proposed joint venture. Blair’s […] Read more

Biden seeks to lift limits on U.S. farmer dealings with tractor makers, packers
Executive order to address corporate 'abuses of power'
Washington | Reuters — U.S. President Joe Biden wants to give that country’s farmers more power in negotiating the sale of livestock to big processors and in deciding who repairs their tractors, the White House said on Tuesday. The executive order, expected within days, will also address such competitive issues as delayed airline baggage, cellphone […] Read more

U.S. livestock: Live cattle futures, boxed beef prices drop
Average hog weights down on week
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures approached a four-week low on Wednesday as U.S. beef prices declined. The drop in futures extended a four per cent setback from a contract high that most-active August live cattle reached last month. Prices for beef shipped to wholesale buyers in large boxes have also […] Read more

ICE weekly outlook: Expensive canola required
MarketsFarm — Canada’s coming canola harvest, if lower than projected, would add tremendous pressure to prices as supplies could become much tighter than they have, according to trader Ken Ball with PI Financial in Winnipeg. Ball believes the 2021-22 canola harvest could be as low as 16 million to 17 million tonnes, well below the […] Read more

CBOT weekly outlook: U.S. Midwest weather in focus for soy, corn
MarketsFarm — Soybean and corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade have seen some wide price moves over the first trading week of July, as a surprisingly bullish acreage report at the end of June was quickly superseded by the weather. “Right now it’s weather; the weather has trumped the bullishness of the June […] Read more

U.S. grains: Soy futures rebound on declining crop condition
Forecast rain has eased U.S. corn yield fears
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures rose on Wednesday, recouping a portion of heavy losses from a day earlier, as a lower-than-expected U.S. crop rating tempered hopes that rain will improve field conditions. Rains from Friday into next week will offer timely moisture for corn that will be in the key […] Read more