A barley crop south of Ethelton, Sask. on July 30, 2019. (Dave Bedard photo)

Feed weekly outlook: Barley demand pressures domestic supply

MarketsFarm — Increasing demand for feed barley has created a strong but extremely tightened market for the crop and it may potentially buck seeding predictions for 2021-22. Peter Watts, managing director of the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre in Winnipeg, said rising demand from China is also raising prices for feed barley, urging growers to […] Read more



(Dave Bedard photo)

StatsCan confirms canola stocks tightening

Wheat stocks also down from previous year-end

MarketsFarm — Solid demand from exporters and domestic crushers continues to eat rapidly through Canada’s canola stocks, which as of Dec. 31 were down nearly 24 per cent from the same date a year earlier, according to new data released Friday from Statistics Canada. The government agency pegged total canola stocks in the country as […] Read more

ICE March 2021 canola with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

ICE weekly outlook: How long can canola remain well supported?

MarketsFarm — Despite recent declines in canola prices, the Canadian oilseed remains very well supported, according to Errol Anderson of Market Place Communications in Calgary. The question he posed, though, was for how long can this last? “The market is incredibly well supported because of the lack of deliveries and that the crushers are still […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Feds predict three per cent increase in canola acres

Stocks nevertheless expected to tighten

MarketsFarm — Canadian farmers will seed more canola in the upcoming 2021-22 crop year, but solid demand will still cause ending stocks to tighten, according to the first new-crop supply/demand projections from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), released Monday. The department forecast seeded canola area in the spring of 2021 at 21.37 million acres, up […] Read more

File photo of Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau speaking to media in Winnipeg in March 2019. (Dave Bedard photo)

Bibeau says government committed to federal plant breeding

Seed royalty consultations stalled

The Canadian government is committed to plant breeding, federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau told members of the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation on Tuesday. Some farmers and seed industry officials suspect Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) variety development work, along with many other programs, will be on the chopping block post-COVID-19 as the government tackles its […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Crop stocks forecasts mostly unchanged in AAFC supply/demand report

Corn carryout revised upward

MarketsFarm — Updated crop supply/demand tables from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, released Friday, included only minor changes from the previous month. Larger adjustments are expected after Statistics Canada releases its final production numbers for the year on Dec. 3. Canola and all-wheat ending stocks for the 2020-21 marketing year were both left unchanged at 2.25 […] Read more

(Shadowinternet/E+/Getty Images)

Feds back pork producers with new levy on imports

New national pork agency to be up and running next summer

A new agency will use funds from a new levy on imported pork to pay for research and promotion for the Canadian pork sector. Federal Agriculture Minister Marie Claude Bibeau on Thursday officially announced the creation of the Canadian Pork Promotion and Research Agency (PRA). The Farm Products Council of Canada (FPCC) and Agriculture and […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Canada’s wheat ending stocks projections raised

MarketsFarm — Canadian wheat ending stocks for the current 2020-21 marketing year are forecast to be larger than earlier expectations, according updated supply/demand estimates Thursday from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. All-wheat ending stocks for 2020-21 are now forecast at 6.3 million tonnes, which compares with the September estimate of 5.9 million. The total wheat carryout […] Read more

Wheat being loaded onto a cargo ship in Vancouver in 2011. (File photo: Reuters/Ben Nelms)

AAFC lowers wheat carryout estimate, raises canola

MarketsFarm — Updated supply and demand estimates from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada call for tighter wheat carryout for the 2020-21 crop year than previous forecast — and more canola. Tursday’s report provides the first adjusted balance sheet estimates from the government agency that account for the latest production numbers from Statistics Canada released earlier in […] Read more