A grain storage bin lay on a gravel road near Litchfield, Nebraska, about 230 km west of Lincoln, after high winds swept across the U.S. Great Plains and upper Midwest, in this still image from a social media video. (Kevin Fulton image via Reuters)

Dust storm, hurricane-force winds tear across U.S. upper Midwest

Chicago | Reuters — Hurricane-force winds tore across the U.S. upper Midwest Thursday evening, sending walls of dust across cities and rural towns, causing widespread property damage and killing at least two people. Straight-line winds up to 170 km/h reached from Kansas to Wisconsin, pushing waves of farmland topsoil across the horizon and plunging communities […] Read more

(DimaSobko/iStock/Getty Images)

Biden says U.S. baby formula shortage to ease in weeks

Shortage follows major Similac recall in February

Washington | Reuters — The U.S. baby formula shortage should improve dramatically in coming weeks, President Joe Biden and top officials said on Friday as the administration scrambled to reverse a shortfall that hits lower-income Americans particularly hard. The U.S. is working with manufacturers to allow more importation of baby formula, Biden told reporters in […] Read more


CBOT July 2022 soft red wheat (candlesticks) with MGEX July 2022 spring wheat (yellow line) and K.C. July 2022 hard red wheat (orange line). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: CBOT wheat, corn ease off rally on supply concerns

Export outlook, crude oil support soybeans

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade wheat and corn futures weakened on Friday, a day after rising on U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasts that indicated tightening global supplies. Traders took some profits ahead of the weekend and on expectations that U.S. farmers are advancing corn plantings thanks to improved Midwest crop weather, analysts […] Read more

K.C. July 2022 hard red wheat (candlesticks) with MGEX July 2022 spring wheat (yellow line) and CBOT July 2022 wheat (orange line). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Wheats up on ‘indisputably bullish’ cuts to harvest estimates

MGEX July wheat limit up, K.C. July wheat hits contract high

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures set contract highs on Thursday as the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) slashed its production forecast for the variety that is grown in the U.S. Plains and used to make bread. USDA, in a monthly crop report, projected hard red winter wheat output at 590 million bushels, down […] Read more


Red spring wheat. (File photo)

Mildew scrapped as grading factor for No. 3 wheats

Grading changes also planned for canola admixture, splits in peas, excreta in mustard

The Canadian Grain Commission will change its standard samples for mildew in No. 1 and No. 2 wheats, and drop it as a grading factor for No. 3 wheats, effective this summer. The CGC on Monday laid out a list of changes to its grain grading policies and standards for wheat, canola, peas, beans and […] Read more

MGEX July 2022 spring wheat (candlesticks) with CBOT July 2022 wheat (yellow line) and K.C. July 2022 hard red wheat (orange line). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Supply worries, weather spur rallies

Market awaits USDA world crop report; rains delay U.S. spring wheat plantings

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade grain and soybean futures jumped on Wednesday, as traders uneasy about world supplies adjusted positions a day before the release of U.S. crop data. Concerns about poor global crop weather helped support gains, with MGEX spring wheat futures setting contract highs as rains prevent plantings in the […] Read more


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Major U.S. retailers limit infant formula purchases on shortage

Reuters — U.S. retailers including Target, CVS and Walgreens Boots Alliance said on Tuesday they have limited purchases of infant formula due to a supply shortage. The limits come after top supplier Abbott Laboratories in February recalled some baby formula including Similac made at its plant in Michigan over complaints of bacterial infections in infants […] Read more

CBOT July 2022 soybeans (candlesticks) with Bollinger bands (20,2). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Chicago grains firm after planting-inspired decline

USDA world report eyed for gauge of Ukraine war, harvest prospects

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago soybean futures edged up on Tuesday, a day after sliding on macroeconomic worries, as traders assessed U.S. planting progress. Wheat traded near even, pressured by recent rainfall across the U.S. Great Plains, though global supply concerns underpinned the market, while corn traded near even, supported as the pace of planting […] Read more


Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau walks with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on May 8, 2022. (PMO photo by Adam Scotti via Reuters)

Trudeau pledges help for Ukraine to find options to export grain

Turkey's co-operation seen as important, Joly says

Kyiv | Reuters — Canada will help Ukraine work out options on how to export stored grain to address global food security that has been shaken by Russia’s invasion of the country, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said late on Sunday. Nearly 25 million tonnes of grains are stuck in Ukraine, unable to leave the country […] Read more

Cargo ships are docked in Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa on Nov. 4, 2016. (File photo: Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko)

Ukraine calls for moves to unblock ports, prevent global food crisis

Russia has mounted a blockade of Ukrainian ports

Kyiv | Reuters — Ukraine’s president called on the international community on Monday to take immediate steps to end a Russian blockade of his country’s ports to allow wheat exports and prevent a global food crisis. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made his comments in an online post after speaking to European Council President Charles Michel, who […] Read more