U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken listens to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during a “Global Food Security Call to Action” meeting of foreign ministers at U.N. headquarters in New York on May 18, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Eduardo Munoz)

U.N. chief in talks on restoring Ukraine grain exports

Contact made amid global food crisis

United Nations | Reuters — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that he is in “intense contact” with Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, the United States and the European Union in an effort to restore Ukrainian grain export as a global food crisis worsens. “I am hopeful, but there is still a way to go,” said […] Read more

Corn seedlings in southern Ontario in 2021. (Farmtario photo by John Greig)

Spring planting well underway in Ontario

MarketsFarm — Farmers are well into seeding their crops for 2022, according to Wednesday’s crop report from Ontario’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). The report noted planting of corn, soybeans and spring cereals started late last week — the exception being where there are heavier soils. OMAFRA projected planting could be 80 […] Read more


Yuri and Oleksiy, farmers wearing body armours and helmets, prepare for field work in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region amid Russia’s invasion, on April 26, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino)

Worsening global food security needs Ukraine, Russia production, UN chief says

Abuja | Reuters — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday the problem of global food security could not be solved without restoring Ukrainian agricultural production and Russian food and fertilizer output to the world market. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February has added to volatility in financial markets, sending commodity prices higher and affecting logistics, […] Read more

CF Industries’ UAN plant at Donaldsonville in Louisiana. The company also makes UAN at plants in Ontario, Iowa and Oklahoma. (Thyssenkrupp-industrial-solutions.com)

CF Industries profit soars as sanctions raise fertilizer prices

Chicago | Reuters — CF Industries on Wednesday reported quarterly earnings climbed 485 per cent as the fertilizer maker ramped up U.S. shipments after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine catapulted prices for crop nutrients. Top fertilizer producers including CF, Nutrien and Mosaic Co. have benefited as sanctions on exporters Russia and ally Belarus limited global supplies […] Read more


Nutrien’s Patience Lake potash facility, about 15 km east of Saskatoon. (Nutrien.com)

Nutrien may further raise potash output as sanctions curb other supplies

Chicago | Reuters — Canada’s Nutrien, the world’s largest fertilizer company, is weighing further increases to potash production as sanctions continue to limit shipments from Russia and Belarus, interim CEO Ken Seitz said on Tuesday. Prices of crop nutrients such as potash have skyrocketed as sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine have disrupted […] Read more

(Nutrien video screengrab via YouTube)

Nutrien bolsters profit forecast on surging fertilizer prices

Fertilizer sector set for biggest profits in years

Reuters — Nutrien Ltd. on Monday raised its full-year earnings forecast well above estimates after posting a more than 10-fold jump in first-quarter profit, as the world’s largest fertilizer company benefits strongly from soaring prices of crop nutrients. Prices of essential crop nutrients such as potash and phosphate skyrocketed in the quarter, touching near-record levels, […] Read more


(Greg Berg photo)

StatsCan predicts more Canadian wheat acres, less canola in 2022

Lentil, corn, soy acres are also expected up from 2021, barley down

MarketsFarm — Canada’s farmers intend to seed more acres to wheat and less to canola in 2022, according to the first survey-based estimates from Statistics Canada for the upcoming crop year released Tuesday. Canola area is forecast at 20.9 million acres by the government agency, which would be down by seven per cent from the […] Read more

A farm worker unloads Ukrainian-made fertilizer from a truck on April 5, 2022 to use on a wheat field near the village of Yakovlivka, outside Kharkiv, after it was hit by an aerial bombardment. (Photo: Reuters/Thomas Peter)

Farming behind the lines: Ukraine’s farmers sow amidst wreckage

Despite their best efforts, however, famine looms as war rages

In early April, Ukrainian soldiers expelled the Russian invaders from the northern regions of Ukraine: Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions. The wounded enemy left, leaving behind burned-out war machines and the unburied corpses of his soldiers. However, the invaders managed to do a lot of damage. Many of you are probably aware of the atrocities […] Read more



A custom hauler spreads dairy manure on hay ground using a Husky 18000L Slimline liquid manure spreader on a farm at Wallenstein, Ont., north of Kitchener, in the spring of 2018. (Husky Farm Equipment handout photo via Reuters)

No poop for you: Manure supplies run short as fertilizer prices soar

Ontario honeywagon maker all sold out

Chicago | Reuters — For nearly two decades, Abe Sandquist has used every marketing tool he can think of to sell the back end of a cow. Poop, after all, needs to go somewhere. The Midwestern entrepreneur has worked hard to woo farmers on its benefits for their crops. Now, facing a global shortage of […] Read more