(Dave Bedard photo)

Net short drops in canola as funds cover positions

Traders expand net longs in soy, corn

MarketsFarm — Speculative traders were busy covering short positions in ICE Futures canola during the week ended June 20, taking the net short position in the market to its smallest level in four months, according to the latest Commitments of Traders report from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). As of June 20, the […] Read more

Aerial view of a loop track featuring a train of CPKC’s newer “high-efficiency” grain hopper cars, at a G3 elevator near Moose Jaw, Sask. in December 2018. (CPR.ca)

Richardson elevators expanding to feed ‘high-efficiency’ trains

Eight sites along CPKC lines to get expanded rail car spots

Grain handler Richardson International plans to expand rail car spots at eight Prairie elevators on Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) lines as the railway gears up for longer trains with new higher-volume hopper cars. Winnipeg-based Richardson on Monday announced expanded rail car spots for its elevators at Lacombe, Carseland, Provost and Olds, Alta.; Estevan, Whitewood […] Read more


CBOT September 2023 soft red winter wheat with 200-day moving average, MGEX September 2023 hard red spring wheat (yellow line) and K.C. September 2023 hard red winter wheat (orange line). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Wheat retreats after Russia worries lift market

Wheat down off four-month peak; corn and soybeans also retreat

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago wheat futures declined on Monday in a technical and profit-taking retreat after concerns about political stability in major exporter Russia had lifted prices earlier to four-month highs. Corn ended mixed and soybeans closed below session highs as milder temperatures and crop-boosting rains in parts of the U.S. Midwest over the […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Analysts expect little change in new StatCan numbers

Weather was 'pretty conducive to plantings'

MarketsFarm — Dry conditions in much of the Prairies this spring may leave seeding areas relatively unchanged ahead of Statistic Canada’s (StatCan) principal field crop report, due to be released Wednesday. It will be the second survey-based acreage report for the 2023-24 marketing year, after the first one was released in April. While growing conditions […] Read more


(Thinkstock photo)

Prairie cash wheat: Spring wheat vaults higher, durum nudges up

U.S. wheat futures, Canadian dollar up on week

MarketsFarm — Spring wheat prices on the Canadian Prairies experienced sharp upticks while gains for durum were much more subdued. A drop in U.S. wheat ratings fueled the upswing in wheat prices, as dry conditions took further hold with approximately 15 per cent of U.S. spring wheat now in drought. While that’s up four points […] Read more

CBOT December 2023 corn with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn, soybeans, wheat fall ahead of weekend

Rainfall in U.S. Midwest forecasts

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade corn and soybean futures fell to one-week lows on Friday, pressured by forecasts for beneficial rains in the U.S. Midwest, traders said. Wheat futures also were lower, with traders locking in profits from a rally that has pushed prices higher for five weeks in a row. Signs […] Read more


Vessels are seen as they await inspection under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, brokered by the UN and Turkey, in the southern anchorage of the Bosphorus at Istanbul on Dec. 11, 2022. (File photo: Reuters/Yoruk Isik)

Ukraine ‘99.9 per cent’ certain Russia will quit Black Sea deal next month

Russia wants demands met on ammonia shipments

Kyiv | Reuters — Russia is 99.9 per cent certain to quit a U.N.-brokered deal on the safe wartime passage of Black Sea grain next month because it no longer needs Ukrainian ports to export ammonia, a senior Ukrainian diplomat said. The United Nations and Turkey brokered the Black Sea Grain Initiative with Moscow and […] Read more

Photo: alisbalb/iStock/Getty Images

Feds lift ‘pause’ on increases in crop chemical MRLs

New set of rules also calls for 'cosmetic' pesticide use to be banned on federal lands

Proposals to increase a crop chemical’s maximum residue limits (MRLs) on foods and food crops in Canada can again seek federal approval, after being put on temporary hold two years ago. Among several other changes, a planned new package of federal regulatory amendments will put a gradual end to a “pause” imposed in August 2021 […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Feed weekly outlook: Rains lift interest, prices

Dry conditions in U.S. Corn Belt supportive

MarketsFarm — When Alberta was dry, feed prices drew little interest according to Susanne Leclerc of Market Master Ltd. in Edmonton. But that changed after some timely rains, with prices on the rise. “There’s more demand than we have seen in a while,” Leclerc said. “When crops were looking crappy and people were worried about […] Read more

CBOT November 2023 soybeans with Bollinger bands (20,2). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Soy, corn down off multi-month highs

CBOT winter wheat firm

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade corn and soybean futures fell on Thursday, pressured by a round of profit-taking and some weather outlooks that called for relief to drought-stricken crops in the U.S. Midwest, traders said. “The markets have obviously been overbought on the run-up here on weather,” said Mark Soderberg, grains research […] Read more