(Alexey Rezvykh/iStock/Getty Images)

‘Perfect storm’ causes fertilizer price spikes

'Most of us are in a "wait-and-see" position'

MarketsFarm — Fertilizer prices have increased over the past year, but could be headed even higher as a recent confluence of events has caused a shortage — the effects of which may affect producers past the New Year. “Particularly, in the last few weeks, there have been a number of supply events which have really […] Read more



(Dave Bedard photo)

AAFC lowers ending stocks estimates on crops

MarketsFarm — Canadian producers will see much tighter grain and oilseed stocks at the end of the current 2021-22 marketing year than what was expected last month, while those for pulse and special crops remain mostly steady. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) September supply/demand estimates, released Friday, project 2021-22 ending stocks for all principal field […] Read more

Production is being fine-tuned at Roquette’s pea processing plant near Portage la Prairie. (Photo courtesy Roquette Canada)

Roquette warns of price rise in plant-based food market

Prairie drought could cut pea yields 45 per cent

Paris | Reuters — A global surge in pea prices linked to low supplies and growing demand for plant protein will inevitably need to be passed on to customers, including makers of alternative food such as meat-free burgers, French producer Roquette said on Monday. The market for alternative protein has soared in recent years, attracting […] Read more


Screenshot from an Alberta Agriculture video profiling Innisfail-based pulse and grain handler W.A. Grain and Pulse Solutions. (Alberta Agriculture and Forestry via YouTube)

Buyers found for five Prairie pulse plants

Approvals sought for W.A. Grain asset sales

Three separate buyers are poised to take up the Prairie assets of ill-fated W.A. Grain and Pulse Solutions, pending an Alberta judge’s approval. An application went Thursday for approval before Justice Corina Dario of Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench in Calgary, from BDO Canada, the receiver for the Alberta-based grain and pulse handler and processor. […] Read more

(Thinkstock photo)

Prairie cash wheat: Gains in prices vary by type

MGEX, CBOT December wheats up on week

MarketsFarm — Bids in Western Canada for the week ended Thursday were higher for Canada Western Amber Durum (CWAD), Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) and Canada Prairie Spring Red (CPSR) wheats. Gains in most of the U.S. wheat markets led to the increases, which were tempered somewhat by a stronger Canadian dollar. Average CWRS (13.5 […] Read more


(LDC video screengrab via YouTube)

Dreyfus, others shut soy crushers in China on power curbs

'Cash is on fire'

Beijing | Reuters — Soymeal prices in China, the world’s top consumer of the animal feed ingredient, are rising after at least 20 soybean crushing plants shuttered to comply with curbs on industrial power consumption, industry participants said on Friday. Five crushing plants in the northern city of Tianjin closed this week, said Tianfeng Futures […] Read more

CBOT December 2021 wheat (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (yellow, orange and dark green lines). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Wheat finds two-week high on strong global demand

Corn, soybeans little changed; wider markets encourage consolidation

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago wheat futures firmed on Friday, ending near a two-week high as the market assessed mixed global production prospects and brisk import demand. Corn eased as supply pressure from the ongoing U.S. harvest countered background support from tight supplies, while soybeans inched higher after trading both sides of even. The most-active […] Read more


Huawei Technologies CFO Meng Wanzhou leaves her home to attend a court hearing in Vancouver on Sept. 24, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Jesse Winter)

Huawei executive, U.S. reach deal to dismiss charges

Meng Wanzhou would be allowed to leave Canada

Updated, Sept. 24 — Reuters — Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou has reached an agreement with U.S. prosecutors to end the bank fraud case against her, U.S. prosecutors said on Friday, a move that should allow her to leave Canada and relieve a point of tension between China and the United States. Meng was […] Read more

One Canada Square (tower at centre) houses the London head office of the International Grains Council. (Iliffd/iStock/Getty Images)

Grains council tweaks numbers in latest supply and demand data

MarketsFarm — The International Grains Council (IGC) released its monthly supply and demand report Thursday, projecting a six million-tonne increase in total global grain production at 2.289 billion tonnes in 2021-22. That change consisted of a seven million-tonne increase in global corn production, offset by a one million-tonne decrease in world wheat output. Soybean production […] Read more