This apomictic process, if successful, allows superior combinations of plant traits to be captured and preserved without any cross-pollination.

Hybrid wheat and apomixis

Practical Research: Are we any closer?

Eureka! Not really. In the next year or so, Syngenta will release a hybrid wheat variety using complex crossbreeding systems just ahead of a few rival companies working on the same problem. Hybrid wheat varieties combine the traits of two parent selections. Work started on hybrid wheat around 2010, and by 2023 there will be […] Read more

Willem van Staveren says perennials and winter annuals such as dandelions, thistle and particularly kochia are targeted in the farm’s fall weed control program.

Weed control timing is important: sooner is better than later

If weeds get the upper hand, a percentage of yield loss can’t be recovered

Willem van Staveren says you can’t beat early weed control. In fact, every year on the family-run southern Saskatchewan farm, the Van Staverens plan for a post-harvest herbicide application to help control winter annual and perennial weeds in preparation for the following growing season. “It is important for us to make the late fall herbicide […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Klassen: Demand surges for grass cattle

Barley, corn expected to be cheaper next fall

Compared to last week, western Canadian feeder cattle markets traded $3-$4 on either side of unchanged. Certain auction markets did not have sales due to the shortened holiday week. Adverse weather also shuttered some sales on Wednesday and Thursday in the eastern Prairie region. Southern Alberta feedlots are contending with poor pen conditions which may […] Read more

(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Canola fund short position shrinking

Managed money is net long on corn, soy

MarketsFarm — Managed money fund traders continued to cover their large short positions in canola in early April, according to the latest Commitments of Traders report from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). As of April 4, the net managed money short position in canola futures came in at 49,470 contracts (70,671 short; 21,201 […] Read more


CBOT May 2023 soft red winter wheat with 20-day moving average, MGEX May 2023 hard red spring wheat (yellow line) and K.C. May 2023 hard red winter wheat (orange line). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Wheat closes higher on dry weather, Russian threats

Markets await monthly supply and demand report from USDA

Mexico City | Reuters — Chicago wheat futures were higher on Monday, as dry weather put Kansas City wheat at risk and Russia’s threat to bypass a UN-brokered grain deal underpinned prices, traders said. Corn also closed higher, though soybeans dipped as warm and dry weather improved the planting outlook in the United States, analysts […] Read more



(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Feed weekly outlook: Barley prices still historically high, but face headwinds

Bulk corn delivery remains more convenient

MarketsFarm — Feed barley bids in Western Canada remain historically strong, despite easing off their highs over the past month and trending lower. With bids of around $410 per tonne into the Lethbridge feedlot alley, feed barley “is still a sell,” according to Mike Jubinville of MarketsFarm, speaking on a webinar. However, he noted there […] Read more

CBOT May 2023 soybeans with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Crop futures slide on disappointing export sales, improved weather

Traders adjust positions before Easter weekend

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade grain and soybean futures crumbled on Thursday on disappointing U.S. export sales and an improved weather outlook for U.S. spring plantings, analysts said. U.S. soybean export sales for 2022-23 were 155,300 tonnes for the week ended March 30, down 42 per cent from the prior four-week average, […] Read more


Corn in progress just east of Blumenort, Man. on July 20, 2022. (Dave Bedard photo)

After growing GM corn for decades, some U.S. farmers open to Mexican restrictions

Biden administration seeks to challenge ban

Chicago | Reuters — Mexico has found unexpected allies as it tries to limit imports of genetically modified (GM) corn: some U.S. farmers who grow the crops. Farmers have for decades planted GM corn, which protects against insects and herbicides, with seeds sold by companies such as Bayer, Corteva and ChemChina’s Syngenta. But as believers […] Read more

Detail from the front of the CBOT building in Chicago. (Vito Palmisano/iStock/Getty Images)

CBOT weekly outlook: U.S. planted acres in flux

USDA's next WASDE due out Tuesday; ending stocks expected to increase

MarketsFarm — Ahead of the April supply and demand report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Scott Capinegro of Barrington Commodities said he expects ending stocks to increase — while planted acres are likely to change. “After looking at the [quarterly grain] stocks numbers, you would think they would be lowering ending stocks just […] Read more