CBOT July 2020 soybeans with Bollinger (20,2) bands. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Soybeans climb on Chinese buying ahead of crop report

Wheat wrestles with demand concerns, weather woes

Chicago | Reuters –– Chicago soybean futures climbed for a second session to a three-week high on Friday as Chinese buying underpinned prices and traders squared positions ahead of a supply and demand report due next Tuesday. Corn also rose on word China may increase agricultural buying to fulfill commitments laid out in January under […] Read more

A worker leans on a rack of potted flowers at Sheridan Nurseries in Toronto on May 8, 2020, the first day that garden centres re-opened in Ontario from COVID-19 restrictions. (Photo: Reuters/Chris Helgren)

Canada’s growers look to reopening garden centres to salvage dire year

Ottawa | Reuters — Hard-hit Canadian flower and nursery growers hope a surge in demand from budding gardeners in Ontario, the country’s biggest market, can help the industry avert disaster caused by the coronavirus with retailers reopening on Friday in the populous province. Most non-essential businesses in Canada were shut in mid-March as officials urged […] Read more



(Dave Bedard photo)

Adjustments likely ahead for StatsCan’s early acreage estimates

Projections still in line with grain trade's expectations

MarketsFarm — The results of the first acreage estimates for 2020 from Statistics Canada come with an asterisk, as the COVID-19 pandemic halted data collection early. Canada’s actual seeded area is expected to see some shifts from the projections released Thursday. “As a result of the timing of the COVID-19 pandemic, these estimates were produced […] Read more


CBOT July 2020 soybeans with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Futures rebound on Chinese buying, Midwest frost concerns

Freezing forecast raises concern about Midwest crops

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. grain and soybean futures prices rebounded on Thursday on renewed Chinese buying of corn and soy and as forecasts for sub-freezing temperatures across the country stoked concerns that some vulnerable crops may sustain damage. Gains, however, were tempered by plentiful supplies and worries about demand as traders started positioning ahead […] Read more

(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Fuel, labour to pull grain freight cost indices lower

CP's share buybacks also a factor in its VRCPI

The numbers that decide how much revenue Canada’s big two railways get to keep from Prairie grain handling have been marked downward for the 2020-21 crop year. The Canadian Transportation Agency last week announced it will set the volume-related composite price index (VRCPI) at 1.4202 for Canadian National Railway (CN) and at 1.4205 for Canadian […] Read more


(File photo)

Ontario extends fruit, forage insurance premium deadlines

Extension offers 'flexibility,' Agricorp says

Ontario fruit and forage growers who have production insurance premiums due this month will now have until June 30 to pay, the province said Monday. The extended premium payment deadline applies only to production insurance plans for fruit, strawberries and asparagus — and to the forage rainfall insurance plan, which uses rainfall as an indicator […] Read more