Certified beef cattle are pictured on May 13, 2020 at Rancho Estrada in the town of San Agustin, on the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. (Photo: Reuters/Jose Luis Gonzalez)

More Mexican beef headed to U.S. dinner tables as supply crunch bites

"I think we're going to leap past Canada this year"

Mexico City/Chicago | Reuters — More Mexican steaks and other beef cuts are headed north of the border after the coronavirus outbreak has hobbled U.S. meat processing plants, potentially offsetting fears of shortages affecting businesses from fast-food chains to grocery stores but angering U.S. ranchers. The Mexican industry chalks up the export growth to new […] Read more

Chickpeas. (CalypsoArt/iStock/Getty Images)

Pulse weekly outlook: Chickpea acreage expected lower

MarketsFarm — High global prices in the 2017-18 marketing year caused a global spike in chickpea production in 2018. It’s since taken a while for consumers to “chew through supplies,” which has put pressure on prices, according to Chuck Penner of LeftField Commodities. In a kabuli chickpea global outlook webinar hosted by the Global Pulse […] Read more


Canada/U.S. border signage in downtown Detroit. (RiverNorthPhotography/Getty Images)

CUSMA pact to take effect July 1, USTR says

Washington | Reuters — U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Friday said he has notified Congress that the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement will take effect on July 1, a month later than initially proposed. In a statement, Lighthizer said both Mexico and Canada had taken measures necessary to comply with their commitments under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada […] Read more

Granvita is Grupo Vida’s consumer oats brand, including breakfast cereals, snacks, granola, oatmeal, oat flakes and oat milk. (Granvita.com)

Mexico wants Canadian oats

MarketsFarm — Mexico’s largest oat manufacturer is calling for Canadian oat producers to explore new varieties and increase acreage in order to keep up with global demand. Jorge Sanchez, chief financial officer of Mexico’s Corporativo Grupo Vida Internacional, said Canada’s oat crops need to “adapt to changing growing conditions” in order to meet world demand, […] Read more


(Rahr.com)

Strong export demand, acreage ahead for barley

Lower supplies from Australia benefit Canadian growers

MarketsFarm — Canadian malting barley acreage is expected to remain high in the coming year, mostly due to strong export demand. Peter Watts, managing director of the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Center in Winnipeg, said tough harvest conditions were partially to blame for lowered malt barley output in 2019. “We had a fairly lousy harvest, […] Read more



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

U.S. grains: Corn, soy to one-month lows

Chicago | Reuters –– U.S. corn and soybean futures hit one-month lows on Thursday and wheat futures followed amid doubts about whether China will make the purchases from the United States promised in a trade deal between the two countries, analysts said. Chicago Board of Trade March corn futures tumbled three per cent, settling down […] Read more

Canada/U.S. border signage in downtown Detroit. (RiverNorthPhotography/Getty Images)

U.S. Senate passes CUSMA trade deal

Washington | Reuters — The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved a revamp of the 26-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement that includes tougher rules on labour and automotive content but leaves US$1.2 trillion in annual U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade flows largely unchanged. The legislation for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (CUSMA) passed on an 89-10 bipartisan vote, sending the […] Read more


Pinto beans. (Vergani_Fotografia/iStock/Getty Images)

Pulse weekly outlook: Edible bean yields lower across North America

MarketsFarm — A challenging harvest season spelled trouble for dry bean yields across North America, according to one report from the Global Pulse Confederation. Mexico’s spring-summer bean crop yield was pegged at around 400,000 tonnes, which was 52 per cent lower than the previous year. The loss in production was largely due to drought conditions […] Read more

(Eyfoto/iStock/Getty Images)

U.S. House passes CUSMA

Washington | Reuters — The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday backed a new trade agreement with neighbouring Mexico and Canada in a 385-41 bipartisan vote, sending the NAFTA replacement measure to the Senate for consideration early in 2020. Democrats, who control the House, approved the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (CUSMA) more than a year after […] Read more