Pacific Ocean sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies for the week centred on Jan. 6. (CPC.ncep.noaa.gov)

U.S. forecaster sees El Nino conditions weakening

Reuters — The El Nino phenomenon currently affecting weather is expected to weaken during the Northern Hemisphere spring and transition to normal conditions by late spring or early summer, a U.S. government weather forecaster said Thursday. The Climate Prediction Center (CPC), an agency of the National Weather Service, was in line in its monthly forecast […] Read more

Red lentils. (Pulse Canada photo)

India’s pulses under stress, need well-timed rain

CNS Canada –– India, the world’s largest producer of pulses, needs moisture before crops hit the reproductive cycle at the end of January, or existing losses will become amplified, a weather analyst says. The driest areas in India are important pulse-producing regions in northeastern Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, said Drew Lerner of World […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Study finds Canadian beef’s GHG footprint shrunk over 30 years

Efficiencies in cattle production and feeding have allowed Canada’s beef industry to produce the same weight in beef as 30 years ago with smaller breeding herds, less land — and smaller greenhouse gas (GHG) output, a new study finds. The study, led by research scientist Tim McAllister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Lethbridge, with […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

U.S. grain shippers await El Nino dryness after unseasonable flood

Chicago | Reuters –– The clear Midwestern skies that El Nino cycles typically bring could be a boon to the U.S. heartland this spring, after recent record rain levels soaked the region, swamping farmland and disrupting grain export shipments on swollen rivers. Farm fields across the Midwest are saturated, according to the U.S. Department of […] Read more


(Michael Thompson photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Ardent restarts Illinois flour mill after flooding

Chicago | Reuters –– The largest U.S. flour miller, Ardent Mills, has resumed operations in Alton, Illinois, as floodwaters along the Mississippi River receded while a mill at Chester, Ill. will remain down for weeks, company executives said Tuesday. Near record-high floodwaters following deadly winter storms forced the company to shut down the mills a […] Read more



TBARS director Dr. Tarlok Singh Sahota shows off a test plot of black barley in this 2014 file photo.

Thunder Bay ag research station gets stay

More time has been bought for a northern Ontario agricultural research station on the brink of closing to come up with a new operating plan. The Ontario government on Monday announced $350,000 in bridge funding for the not-for-profit Thunder Bay Agricultural Research Association, operator of the Thunder Bay Agricultural Research Station (TBARS), to “develop a […] Read more




(Dave Bedard photo)

U.S. grain prices soar as floods shut waterways, threaten crops

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. grain farmers scrambled to find shelter for their crops and handlers hunted for alternative transportation routes, as widespread floods shut waterways from Illinois to Missouri and spurred a surge in physical prices of corn and soybeans. The sudden jump in prices could complicate a months-long stand-off between farmers who are […] Read more


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