(Canada Border Services Agency video screengrab)

USMCA deal modestly boosts U.S. economy, trade panel finds

Washington | Reuters — The new North American free trade pact would modestly boost the U.S. economy, especially auto parts production, but may curb vehicle assembly and limit consumer choice in cars, a hotly anticipated analysis from the U.S. International Trade Commission showed on Thursday. The ITC report is a crucial step in the push […] Read more

An eight-year-old handler walks her best-in-class York Barrow pig on June 4, 2014 at World Pork Expo in Des Moines. (File photo: Reuters/Lane Hickenbottom)

World Pork Expo cancelled over swine fever fears

Chicago | Reuters — The U.S. pork industry canceled its annual convention on Wednesday over concerns that international attendees could bring in an incurable hog disease at a time when U.S. farmers are already suffering from trade wars. The decision to scrap the World Pork Expo, held by the National Pork Producers Council in Des […] Read more



U.S. livestock: Lean hogs tumble after Trump threatens Mexico border closure

U.S. livestock: Lean hogs tumble after Trump threatens Mexico border closure

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures ended down sharply for a second straight day on Friday after a volatile session in which traders weighed thinner near-term hog supplies against risks to pork exports with Mexico. Early-session strength stemmed from a quarterly U.S. Department of Agriculture hog supply report, released after […] Read more


CBOT May 2019 corn with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn posts steepest drop in nearly three years on USDA reports

Chicago | Reuters –– U.S. corn futures tumbled more than four per cent on Friday in the market’s steepest drop in nearly three years after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimated U.S. stocks and projected spring plantings above nearly all trade estimates. Soybeans and wheat followed corn lower despite USDA’s lower-than-expected soy and spring […] Read more

Rafael Ramírez González judges the President’s Classic Show during Canadian Western Agribition in 2018.

Mexican beef producer finds top genetics in Canada

Producers in Mexico appreciate high quality of Canadian cattle herds

Canadian beef producers frequently brave winter weather to attend bull sales and cattle shows. In the stalls and by the sales rings, breeders learn about each other’s operations in the hopes of starting partnerships, finding new genetics and sending their best into other herds. A western Canadian ranch or cattle show is also the perfect […] Read more


File photo of a cowboy herding cattle near a Mexican roadside. (GummyBone/iStock/Getty Images)

Mexican farmers urge ‘mirror’ tariffs on Trump’s rural base

Mexico City | Reuters — Leaders of Mexico’s agricultural sector are urging “mirror measures” on U.S. farm imports in politically sensitive products such as yellow corn and poultry, in an effort they argue would counter decades of subsidized imports from the United States. The three-month-old government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is currently working […] Read more



U.S. livestock: Hogs fall on technical selling, live cattle up

U.S. livestock: Hogs fall on technical selling, live cattle up

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures declined more than one per cent on Tuesday, giving back a portion of gains notched on Monday in a technical setback, traders said. Hogs on Monday surged from a multimonth low, boosted in part by technically oversold conditions. But the market remained anchored by abundant […] Read more