(Dave Bedard photo)

Cargill profit jumps on meat demand, big U.S. crops

Reuters — Global commodities trader Cargill on Tuesday reported a sharply higher adjusted quarterly profit led by strong results from its beef and turkey businesses and robust demand for North American grain and oilseed crops. The privately held company said adjusted operating earnings jumped nearly 80 per cent in the second quarter ended Nov. 30 […] Read more


JayDee AgTech, whose Kindersley dealership lot is shown here, is being rebranded under the name Pattison Agriculture. (Jdat.ca)

Pattison merges Deere dealership chains

The Jim Pattison Group has consolidated its Prairie farm equipment dealerships in Saskatchewan and Manitoba under one new banner. Pattison on Tuesday announced the merger of its Maple Farm Equipment and JayDee AgTech chains, which deal mainly in John Deere farm equipment. The two chains are to be rebranded as Pattison Agriculture. Darrin Didychuk, now […] Read more

Syngenta’s Interaction Centre at Stein, Switzerland. (Syngenta.com)

Syngenta, ChemChina submit remedy proposals to EU

Hong Kong/Beijing | Reuters — China National Chemical Corp (ChemChina) and Swiss pesticides and seeds group Syngenta have proposed remedies to the European Union’s competition watchdog to address concerns over their US$43 billion merger agreement. The European Commission’s website showed “commitments” submitted on Monday, which typically means the parties have proposed remedies such as asset […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

U.S. grains: Soybeans, corn, wheat rise

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures firmed on Monday, settling up one per cent on some concerns about rain in parts of Argentina curtailing crop production from the world’s third largest exporter of the oilseed, traders said. Wheat futures also closed higher, with prices firming to their highest since Nov. 22. Corn futures ended […] Read more

Photo: Thinkstock

Four steps to a fair land rental agreement

As land values increase, so do land rental rates, but commodity prices don’t always follow the same trajectory, although input costs might. So how do you come to an arrangement to rent land that is fair and profitable for both parties, because that’s the number one consideration if both want a stable, long-term deal. “Communication[...]
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Stripe rust overwintered further north than usual going into the 2016 growing season, Cargill’s Linda Freitag said at SWAC. (OMAFRA photo)

Greig: Lessons learned from Ontario crops’ pest pressures

The warmer winter and subsequent drought defined the 2016 cropping season in Ontario, resulting in more disease and insect pressures and then challenges managing them. Three agronomists gave an overview of the 2016 cropping season at the SouthWest Agricultural Conference in Ridgetown, outlining challenges and wins for the year. Leanne Freitag, Cargill’s manager of agronomy[...]
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Symptoms of verticillium wilt in an infected potato plant. (OMAFRA.gov.on.ca)

Fungicide cleared to curb verticillium wilt in potatoes

A label expansion for Syngenta’s Aprovia fungicide, to cover additional soil-borne potato diseases, makes it the first fungicide in Canada approved to suppress verticillium wilt in potatoes. Fumigants have been potato growers’ only option against the crop disease until now, Eric Phillips, Syngenta Canada’s fungicides and insecticides product lead, said in a release Thursday. Verticillium[...]
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Richardson International’s canola crushing facility at Lethbridge, shown here in July 2016. (Photo courtesy Richardson International)

Canola crushers running at full steam

CNS Canada — Canadian canola crushers showed no signs of slowing down their record pace over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, with the weekly crush topping 200,000 tonnes for only the second time ever. The canola crush during the week ended Wednesday came in at 200,294 tonnes, according to the most recent Canadian Oilseed[...]
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(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

U.S. grains: Exports pressure corn, soybeans

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade corn and soybean futures fell on Friday on signs of weakening demand for U.S. exports as the South American harvest nears, traders said. Wheat futures also dropped, pressured by a round of profit-taking after K.C. hard red winter wheat hit a 4-1/2-month high. But concerns about crop[...]
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