Chicago | Reuters –– Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures reached their highest since late April 2016, driven by short-covering amid brisk wholesale beef demand, said traders. They said speculators bought deferred cattle contracts after Friday’s U.S. Department of Agriculture monthly Cattle on Feed report proved less bearish than some had anticipated. February live cattle, […] Read more
U.S. livestock: CME live cattle futures score 10-month high
Major flood risks seen in southern Manitoba
Areas of Manitoba are at moderate to major risk of flooding, according to the province’s first full flood outlook for the spring. Levels of future snowfall and/or rainfall, the timing and speed of snowmelt, and the runoff timing in Manitoba, the U.S., Saskatchewan and Ontario are still “key factors,” the provincial government said Monday in […] Read more
Wheat disease risk sees farmers looking to oats
CNS Canada — Canadian farmers are showing an increased interest in seeding oats this spring, despite a lack of activity from a pricing standpoint, as quality concerns in wheat and barley have growers looking to other cereals. “We are seeing a huge influx of acres into oats,” said Scott Shiels, grain procurement merchant with Grain […] Read more
U.S. grains: Wheat, corn, soy fall after firming overnight
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures fell two per cent to their lowest in nearly three weeks on Monday, weakening on technical sales after firming briefly during the overnight trading session. Corn and soybean futures also dropped to multi-week lows, with traders noting some end-month liquidation by investment funds. Both wheat and corn futures […] Read more
Manitoba surveying farmers on KAP funding system
The Manitoba government wants “farmers’ and stakeholders'” feedback on potential changes to Keystone Agricultural Producers’ (KAP) funding model — and fast. The deadline to fill out an online survey or download and email it in is March 9, the government said in a release Thursday. “The current approach to funding our province’s general farm organization […] Read more
Extra funds, orders help B.C. ALC clear backlog
British Columbia’s Agricultural Land Commission credits new funding, and a new regime of performance measures, with helping it to clear its backlog of applications. The ALC, the tribunal overseeing provincial measures to conserve farmland and enable farming-related land use, recently announced it has “eliminated” a backlog of 185 applications — and has processed over 90 […] Read more
Canada Bread to shut Beauce-region bakery
Baked goods firm Canada Bread Co. plans to shut a pantry bread bakery in Quebec’s Beauce region and shift a nearby plant’s bread roll production to a third site in the province. The company, an arm of Mexican bakery firm Grupo Bimbo since 2014, announced Tuesday it will close its bakery at St-Come-Liniere, about 110 […] Read more
Barge glut chokes U.S. shipping sector despite record harvest
Chicago | Reuters — A glut of idled river barges is clogging Mississippi River shorelines from St. Louis to New Orleans, leaving U.S. barge companies that haul grain, coal and other bulk goods counting their losses. Even with record-large exports of corn and soybeans, typically a boon for shippers that haul grain to Gulf Coast […] Read more
Mexico eyes Brazil farm products as hedge on Trump threat
Brasilia | Reuters — Amid trade tensions with the U.S., Mexico plans to send a delegation next month to visit Brazilian corn, beef, chicken and soy producers as an alternative to U.S. suppliers, its representative in Brazil said on Friday. Mexican charge d’affaires Eleazar Velasco said Brazil is uniquely positioned to expand agricultural commodity sales […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Profit-taking pressures cattle futures, boosts hogs
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures were mostly lower on Friday while lean hog futures gained sharply as investors took profits in each livestock contract, traders and analysts said. Cattle fell after Thursday’s nearly four-week high and hogs rebounded from a roughly two-month low. “It’s just an end-of-the-week rally,” Rosenthal Collins […] Read more
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