A restoration company vehicle sits in a flooded field at Abbotsford, B.C. on Nov. 30, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Jennifer Gauthier)

AgriRecovery underway for flood-battered B.C. farms

Feds, province put up $228 million

The federal and British Columbia governments’ response to last fall’s destructive flooding now includes what’s said to be the biggest farm disaster recovery package in the province’s history. Provincial Agriculture Minister Lana Popham and her federal counterpart Marie-Claude Bibeau on Monday announced cost-shared funding of $228 million for the Canada-B.C. Flood Recovery for Food Security […] Read more

CME April 2022 lean hogs (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, dark red and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME lean hogs firm on tight hog supplies

Live cattle down off last week's gains

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures gained on Monday, supported by fewer market-ready hogs and diminished pork supplies, analysts said. “There just isn’t much extra pork laying around,” said Alan Brugler, president of Brugler Marketing. CME April lean hogs settled 1.2 cents higher at 101.275 cents/lb., notching a new life-of-contract high. […] Read more


CME April 2022 lean hogs (candlesticks) with Bollinger bands (20,2). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME lean hogs up on tight supplies, good demand

April live cattle up, March feeder cattle lower

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures rose on Friday as tight hog supplies and strong demand fueled gains for the fifth time in six sessions. The market shrugged off negative technical signals following a lower close in actively traded April futures on Thursday after posting a contract high during the session. […] Read more

CME April 2022 lean hogs (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, brown and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME hog, cattle futures end lower

Prices take pause off contract highs

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange hog and cattle futures closed lower on Thursday, retreating as traders paused to book profits after the benchmark contracts in both markets climbed to life-of-contract highs. CME April lean hogs settled down 0.75 cent at 98.375 cents/lb., easing after notching a contract high at 101.25 cents (all figures […] Read more


Romana Didulo, the self-declared “Queen of Canada” and a leading Canadian QAnon figure, leaves after speaking on Parliament Hill as truckers and supporters continue to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates, in Ottawa on Feb. 3, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Patrick Doyle)

Canada rules out use of troops against truck blockade

More protests planned

Ottawa | Reuters — The Canadian government will not use troops against protestors whose nearly week-long demonstration against coronavirus vaccine mandates has brought traffic in central Ottawa to a halt, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday. More than 200 trucks and other vehicles have been blockading downtown roads in the nation’s capital since last Friday […] Read more

Lower beef production driving the feeder cattle market

Lower beef production driving the feeder cattle market

Market Update with Jerry Klassen: Both U.S. and Canadian producers expected to hold on to replacement heifers

Canadian beef production for the 2021 calendar year was estimated at 3.258 million tonnes, up seven per cent from the 2020 output of 3.057 million tonnes. U.S. commercial beef production was estimated at 27.950 billion pounds, which is a record high. This is up three per cent from the 2020 U.S. production of 27.174 billion […] Read more


A supplied aerial photo of vehicles blocking through traffic on Feb. 1, 2022 at the Canada-U.S. border crossing between Coutts, Alta. and Sweet Grass, Montana. (Photo courtesy Alberta RCMP)

Feed weekly outlook: Alberta blockade affects feed grain deliveries

MarketsFarm — A truck blockade at a Canada-U.S. border crossing at Coutts, Alta. has caused some headaches for grain buyers in southern parts of the province. Since Saturday, commercial trucks and other vehicles have blocked Highway 4, a 103-km stretch which runs from the border to Lethbridge, to protest COVID-19 health measures. On the U.S. […] Read more

Employees walk around with face masks at the JBS USA meat packing plant at Greeley, Colorado on April 14, 2020. (File photo: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton)

JBS reaches ‘icebreaker’ settlement of beef price-fixing claims

Reuters — JBS has agreed to pay US$52.5 million to settle litigation accusing meatpacking companies of conspiring to limit supply in the $63 billion-a-year U.S. beef market in order to inflate prices and boost profit. The preliminary settlement by the Brazilian company and its U.S. units with so-called direct purchasers was disclosed on Tuesday, and […] Read more


A supplied aerial photo of vehicles blocking through traffic on Feb. 1, 2022 at the Canada-U.S. border crossing between Coutts, Alta. and Sweet Grass, Montana. (Photo courtesy Alberta RCMP)

Single lanes opened at Alberta border crossing, Mounties say

RCMP 'acknowledges the work that is being done'

Single lanes have reopened in each direction at Alberta’s busiest Canada-U.S. trade window, allowing cross-border supply chains to resume, RCMP report. In response to “concerned citizens in the area of Coutts,” participants in a blockade of vehicles in place at the local border crossing “made the decision to open a lane going northbound and southbound […] Read more

CME April 2022 live cattle (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, dark red and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Cash prices, slaughter pace support CME live cattle

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures rallied to fresh contract highs on Wednesday on strong cash market prices and rising slaughter rates amid seasonally tightening cattle supplies. A winter storm moving across the central U.S. on Wednesday did not noticeably impact cattle and beef production, although traders were watching for any […] Read more