(Jeannette Greaves photo)

Manitoba soy growers likely face light yields

CNS Canada — Manitoba soybeans will be ready for harvest well ahead of normal, provincial pulse crop specialist Dennis Lange said, fresh from fields where he was conducting maturity ratings. He said he was out around Morris on Tuesday and some soybean varieties there are already nearing full maturity. Throughout Manitoba, farmers could be taking […] Read more

(Stephen Ausmus photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Wheat trade hoping for big export year

CNS Canada –– Canadian wheat growers could find themselves popular with international buyers this winter, as world wheat stocks hit lows not seen for a decade. Marlene Boersch, managing partner at Mercantile Consulting Venture, said the present 26-day wheat supply available to world markets, once China’s stockpiles are removed from the equation, should boost prices […] Read more



(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Railways say they’re ready for large shipping season

CNS Canada — Canadian Pacific Railway managed to slightly increase its grain shipping volumes last year, despite the extreme cold. CP moved 25.8 million tonnes of western Canadian grain, grain products, soybeans and non-regulated principal field crops during the 2017-18 crop year. That’s a one per cent increase from the previous crop year and one […] Read more


The Canada 150 emblem in a durum field. (Agr.gc.ca)

Durum markets rattled as harvest set to start

CNS Canada — With the durum wheat harvest rapidly approaching in Western Canada, many analysts wonder how the dry conditions and extreme heat will affect yields. Yet there is one aspect about this year’s crop they already know. Increased seeded acreage this spring, and market access problems hindering longer-term durum sales, mean farmers might want […] Read more

A hemp plant in Alberta. (Jennifer Blair photo)

Hemp growers eye new markets for 2018

CNS Canada — Hemp producers across Western Canada will potentially gain access to lucrative new markets thanks to changes for this year’s harvest. For the first time, hemp growers are allowed to harvest their plants’ buds, leaves and flowers, after receiving an exemption from Health Canada. The market opportunities will be significant, said Ted Haney, […] Read more


Rye production could fall 25 per cent, analyst says

CNS Canada — This year’s Canadian rye harvest appears positioned to carry on the crop’s recent trend with another production decline. Dry conditions in many regions of the Prairies and ergot in Manitoba are expected to drive down yields. Jonathan Hull of The Scoular Co. said he has been hearing from farmers that yields could […] Read more

Photo: File

Early harvest pressures Prairie barley prices

CNS Canada — Barley prices in Western Canada are falling as an early harvest is weighing on values. “Prices have moderated here,” said Allen Pirness of Market Place Commodities Ltd. Lethbridge, Alta. The surprise rally from last week ended as quickly as it began. Prices which started last week at about C$250 per tonne were […] Read more