Wittal: USDA numbers pile pressure on grains

June 30 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s acreage and inventory report came out this morning and overall the report was viewed as being slightly negative for all grains. Corn and bean acres were up more than the trade was guesstimating and quarterly stocks showed higher numbers for the major grains as well. This all […] Read more


Wittal: Take care of your year-end paperwork

June 29 — All markets were rather quiet today with no real news to influence them in either direction. Financial markets were mixed to up a bit and grains were mixed to down, as traders stayed on the sidelines awaiting Tuesday’s U.S. Department of Agriculture acreage and stocks report. The Canadian dollar dropped 0.32 cents, […] Read more




Wittal: Head scab hits U.S. winter wheat

June 24 — Financial markets were mixed and some rebounded a little today as reports claiming we have seen the worst of the recession came out this morning. The U.S. dollar regained three-quarters of a cent from yesterday’s losses and the Canadian dollar was down 0.1 cents, closing at US86.88 cents. The Dow Jones June […] Read more


Wittal: StatsCan numbers yield few surprises

June 23 — After putting on approximately 1,800 km in four days of riding across southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan, and getting rained on for two of the four days, I can safely say there were some real good downpours around Wilcox through Moose Jaw to Swift Current, as it seemed like we got rained […] Read more




Wittal: Rains in forecast weigh on futures

June 16 — Financial markets continue to be in a defensive mode as they again closed with triple-digit losses. The U.S. dollar fell back four-tenths of a cent and the Canadian dollar also fell slightly. Hopes for a turnaround Tuesday did not materialize, which then prompted funds to continue to liquidate positions today, causing further […] Read more