(Dave Bedard photo)

Cargill Q1 profit jumps despite commodities slump

Chicago | Reuters — Global commodities trader Cargill Inc. effectively navigated tumbling commodities markets and volatile currencies to turn in a 20 per cent gain in first-quarter profit, the privately held company said Wednesday. The Minnesota-based company’s grain and oilseed supply chain and energy businesses were standouts in the quarter ended Aug. 31, in stark […] Read more










three men talking on a cattle pasture

McDonald’s ‘verified sustainable beef’ project steams ahead

Visit to Alberta from McDonald's global CEO signals a sea change in the Canadian beef industry

It’s full speed ahead for McDonald’s “verified sustainable beef” project. The country’s largest buyer of beef is finishing up the first phase of its groundbreaking pilot project in Canada, and earlier this month the head of the global fast-food giant paid a visit to Alberta to get a first-hand look. Recently appointed CEO Steve Easterbrook […] Read more


production floor of beef packing plant

Beef packers struggle for supply numbers

Beef packers on both sides of the border are struggling to buy cattle to run their plants efficiently

Few producers shed a tear when they hear of beef packers’ struggles. U.S. producers for years riled against packer consolidation, captive supply and any other perceived evil they thought packers perpetrated on the industry. Canadian producers remember only too well the large profits packers made after BSE crushed live cattle prices across the country. I […] Read more

Samples are taken from a load of corn at IGPC’s Aylmer, Ont. ethanol plant. (IGPC.ca)

Ont. co-op swaps corn supply line for ethanol plant

Corrected, April 30, 2015 — Farmer co-operative IGPC plans to switch to Thompsons from Cargill as the main corn supplier for its southwestern Ontario ethanol processing plant, starting this fall. Thompsons Ltd. will start buying corn immediately for deliveries from Oct. 1 onward to the Aylmer, Ont. ethanol plant, IGPC (Integrated Grain Processors Co-operative) said in a […] Read more