CME August 2019 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME lean hogs end down, live cattle up

Chicago | Reuters –– Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures closed lower on Wednesday on technical selling including profit-taking and long liquidation ahead of the U.S. Independence Day holiday, along with bearish supply fundamentals, traders said. CME’s benchmark August lean hogs contract ended down 0.6 cent at 78.375 cents/lb., turning lower after rising to […] Read more



CME August 2019 lean hogs with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Lean hogs up on trade hopes, falling corn prices

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures rose on Monday on a mix of technical buying, falling corn prices and muted optimism about the weekend resumption of U.S.-China trade negotiations, traders said. “Lean hog futures (received) support from hopes of more Chinese buying after weekend talks went well,” INTL FCStone chief […] Read more

(TobyBarrett.com)

Former Ontario Tory ag critic returns to file as assistant

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has added a second veteran MPP to assist Ag Minister Ernie Hardeman with the agriculture, food and rural affairs portfolio. Ford on Wednesday named Toby Barrett as parliamentary assistant to the minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs, with responsibility for agriculture and food. Randy Pettapiece, who since June last year […] Read more


U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota meets a double-amputee rescue dog at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on May 21, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)

Rookie U.S. House Democrats call for COOL revival

Several new members of the U.S. House of Representatives who’ve pressed for stronger language on labour and environmental standards in the revised North American free trade deal now also want it to include country-of-origin labeling (COOL) on meat. A letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, dated Tuesday and signed by 27 freshman House Democrats, […] Read more

A rapeseed field in southern China’s Yunnan province. (YuenWu/iStock/Getty Images)

Trudeau, China’s Xi had ‘positive’ discussions as dispute rages

Ottawa | Reuters — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Chinese President Xi Jinping had “positive, constructive interactions” on the sidelines of the G20 summit on Friday as a dispute between the two countries rages, Trudeau’s office said. Trudeau spoke “more than once” to Xi during a meeting of the Group of 20 leading economies […] Read more


CME July 2019 lean hogs with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Nearby lean hogs drop on continued herd expansion

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures were mixed on Friday, with nearby contracts pressured by plentiful supplies of hogs and pork and deferred months buoyed by signs of a slowing multi-year U.S. hog herd expansion, traders said. Actively traded nearby contracts posted steep declines after the U.S. Department of Agriculture […] Read more



A building housing offices of the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank in Beijing. (AIIB.org)

Federal Tories critique lack of action on China

MarketsFarm — Federal Opposition House Leader Candice Bergen has publicly ripped the federal government’s lack of action to deal with rising barriers against Canada’s substantial ag exports to China. China halted imports of Canadian meat effective Tuesday, the latest on the list of Canadian products China has blacklisted since the December arrest of Huawei executive […] Read more