The relationship between politics, crime and oligarchy is a tangled web.

Oligarchs debase EU agriculture

Vet Advice with Dr. Ron Clarke

A new week started on the first day of spring 2018. The collection of cars and half tons in the parking lot at the local burger joint meant the “Circle of Wisdom” had already started their daily debate, enriched with weekend news stories and beginning stages of sports playoffs. The Circle is a cluster of […] Read more

File photo of Black Sea port facilities at Odesa, Ukraine. (Leskas/iStock/Getty Images)

Turkish team to discuss Black Sea grain corridor in Russia this week

Turkey proposes to monitor safe passage

Ankara | Reuters — Ankara’s military delegation will travel to Russia this week to discuss details of a possible safe sea corridor in the Black Sea to export Ukrainian grain, Turkish presidency sources said on Tuesday. Russia’s TASS agency confirmed plans for the talks, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine […] Read more


File photo of a bulk port facility in Ukraine. (Olivia Sabeskaya/iStock/Getty Images)

Turkey says Ukraine grain ships could avoid mines

Russia offers safe passage

Ankara/United Nations | Reuters — Russia on Wednesday said it has offered “safe passage” for Ukraine grain shipments from Black Sea ports but is not responsible for establishing the corridors and Turkey suggested that ships could be guided around sea mines. Ukrainian grain shipments have stalled since Russia’s invasion and ports blockade, stoking global prices […] Read more

(Qingwa/iStock/Getty Images)

June USDA report includes few changes or surprises

U.S. corn, soybean carryout projections down from May's

MarketsFarm — There were only a handful of major changes in the monthly supply and demand report released Friday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). “I thought it was neutral to a little bit friendly,” said Terry Reilly, grains analyst with Futures International in Chicago. Perhaps most notable were the ending stocks for new-crop […] Read more


Nutrien’s head office building in Saskatoon. (Liam O’Connor photo)

Nutrien to further boost potash output amid global shortage

Company will also speed up nitrogen capacity boosts

Reuters — Nutrien, the world’s largest fertilizer producer, said Thursday it will increase its Canadian potash production by 20 per cent to an annual 18 million tonnes by 2025, helping to address tight supplies that have contributed to a global food shortage. Potash prices have soared since the West imposed sanctions against Russia for Moscow’s […] Read more

(Medioimages/Photodisc/Getty Images)

CBOT weekly outlook: Soy prices rise, yields may follow suit

MarketsFarm — Soybeans were the high-rising crop on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) for the week ended Wednesday, two days before the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s monthly world agriculture supply/demand estimates (WASDE) are released. Old- and new-crop soybeans all rose in tandem during the week, but while old-crop contracts are rising in price due […] Read more