(Keith Weller photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

New Zealand dairy industry worries over Canada pricing plan

Wellington/Winnipeg | Reuters — New Zealand is closely watching changes in how Canada prices dairy products, New Zealand’s trade ministry said on Friday, as industry groups in several countries complain of unfair Canadian competition. Canada’s dairy farmers and processors, which include Saputo and Parmalat Canada, struck a pricing agreement in July that industry groups in […] Read more




(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Major Alberta cattle feeder set to shut feedlots

Reuters — One of Canada’s biggest cattle feeding operations, Western Feedlots, said Wednesday it will close feeding operations after marketing the cattle it currently owns, due to poor market conditions. Closure of Western’s feeding operations, likely early in 2017 once its current cattle are sold, will make it more difficult for ranchers to find markets […] Read more



(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

U.S. grains: Soybeans rise on technical buying

Reuters — U.S. soybeans rose on Monday for a third straight session, boosted by strength in vegetable oil markets and technical buying. Corn turned higher on chart-based buying and Chicago wheat finished mixed, held in check by an ongoing disruption in Egyptian wheat imports. Chicago November soybean futures climbed 6-1/2 cents, or 0.8 per cent, […] Read more


Mosaic Co. said its staff at Mulberry, Fla. are using this on-site 800-foot-deep ground water well to recover water lost from the sinkhole formation at their phosphate facility. (MosaicCo.com)

Sinkhole at Mosaic fertilizer site leaks radioactive water

Reuters — A sinkhole spanning 45 feet in diameter opened at a Mosaic Co. phosphate fertilizer facility in Florida, leaking 215 million gallons of “slightly radioactive water,” a company spokesman said Friday. Mosaic said the monitoring system at its New Wales facility at Mulberry, Florida, showed a decline in water levels on Aug. 27 from […] Read more



(Photo courtesy Water Management Research Unit, ARS/USDA)

U.S. grains: Bargain buyers boost corn, wheat from multi-year lows

Reuters — Chicago corn and wheat rose on Thursday as investors covered short positions and bought at bargain prices after the grains plumbed multi-year lows during eight-day skids on prospects of abundant U.S. and world supplies. Most-active soybeans edged higher, halting a seven-day losing streak under pressure from an expected record U.S. crop. Chicago Board […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

PotashCorp, Agrium merger would send farmers to regulators

Winnipeg/Chicago | Reuters — North American farmers will pressure regulators to protect their negotiating leverage with fertilizer suppliers if PotashCorp and Agrium agree to merge, major farm groups said on Wednesday. The potential deal revealed on Tuesday would combine the world’s largest fertilizer producer by capacity, with the continent’s biggest network of farm retail dealers, […] Read more