CME August 2023 live cattle with 20- and 50-day moving averages and October 2023 live cattle (black line). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME cattle down off contract highs on profit-taking

Hogs also down off early strength

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures turned lower on Wednesday on a round of profit-taking after most months climbed to life-of-contract highs, with a seasonal downturn in beef prices adding to bearish sentiment, traders said. Most-active August live cattle futures settled down 1.95 cents at 176.875 cents/lb., retreating after rising to […] Read more

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

U.S. grains: Corn hits 2-1/2-year low, soybeans tumble over USDA data

WASDE also pressures CBOT wheat

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn futures fell to their lowest price since early 2021 on Wednesday after the U.S. Department of Agriculture projected a larger-than-expected domestic crop and rising supplies, analysts said. Soybean futures tumbled after USDA’s forecast of 2023-24 soy ending stocks fell above a range of trade estimates, and wheat futures were […] Read more


Liberia-flagged bulker K Sukret, carrying grain under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, waits for inspection in the southern anchorage of Istanbul on May 17, 2023. (Photo: Reuters/Mehmet Emin Caliskan)

UN asks Putin to extend Black Sea grain deal in return for SWIFT access

Grain export initiative to expire Monday otherwise

United Nations | Reuters — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has proposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he extend a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of grain from Ukraine in return for connecting a subsidiary of Russia’s agricultural bank to the SWIFT international payment system, sources told Reuters. Russia has threatened to ditch […] Read more

JBS signage at Greeley, Colorado. (JBS.com.br)

Brazil’s JBS reboots plan to list shares in New York

International meat packer hopes for access to lower-cost capital

Sao Paulo | Reuters — JBS SA, the world’s largest meat packer, on Wednesday proposed listing its shares in New York, hoping the move will bring its multiples closer to peers and that a broader investor base will give it more access to cheaper capital, sending its shares up eight per cent in mid-morning trade. […] Read more


ICE November 2023 canola with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

ICE weekly outlook: Canola climbs on weather worries

Demand rationing also seen as supportive

MarketsFarm — The ICE Futures canola market moved steadily higher during the week ended Wednesday, hitting its strongest levels in more than four months as bullish chart signals and production uncertainty across the Prairies provided support. A bearish reaction in the Chicago soy complex to the latest supply/demand estimates (WASDE) from the U.S. Department of […] Read more

(Christophe Paul photo courtesy USDA)

CBOT weekly outlook: Markets react bearishly to WASDE report

Traders were expecting reduced U.S. corn yield

MarketsFarm — The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) saw futures come down after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its monthly world agricultural supply and demand estimates (WASDE) on Wednesday. Corn prices were 18 cents per bushel lower on the day, while soybeans lost 27-33 cents (all figures US$). Chicago soft wheat shed 24-28 […] Read more


File photo of beluga whales in Hudson Bay off Churchill, Manitoba. (Lynn_Bystrom/iStock/Getty Images)

Prairie Forecast: Large Hudson Bay low dominates

Forecast issued July 12, covering July 12-19

As the weather models correctly predicted, a large and extremely strong area of low pressure formed over Hudson Bay during the last forecast period, bringing the expected cool and unsettled weather to the eastern half of the Prairies. Over the western half of the Prairies a weak upper-level ridging brought, for the most part, sunny […] Read more

Aerial view of Centerm, a Burrard Inlet terminal for containerized cargo at the Port of Vancouver. (Bloodua/iStock/Getty Images)

Feds to propose terms to settle B.C. ports strike

Labour minister asks mediator to draft a deal

In the hope of ending a longshore workers’ strike at British Columbia’s ports, Canada’s labour minister plans to put forward a recommendation for a settlement to break a stalemate between union and management. In a statement at about 9:30 CT Tuesday evening, Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan said he had asked the senior federal mediator in […] Read more


(Diane Kuhl/iStock/Getty Images)

Dates moved up in dairy sector’s CUSMA compensation calendar

Calculation date will shift to Aug. 31

Changes are being made to the timetable for the remainder of the program compensating Canada’s dairy farmers for market share lost to recent multilateral trade deals. The Dairy Direct Payment Program (DDPP), which issued $1.75 billion over four payments from 2019 to 2023 to compensate for the Canada-European Union (CETA) and Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade […] Read more

File photo of cattle in an Alberta feedlot. (Geralyn Wichers photo)

Alberta lifts feeder loan guarantee limit

Amendment boosts individual limit by 50 per cent

Alberta has boosted the limit on the size of loan available under its Feeder Associations Loan Guarantee program, aiming to help producers keep up against rising livestock prices. An order in council amending the provincial Feeder Associations Guarantee Regulation was approved Monday, raising that program’s individual and joint-membership loan limit to $3 million, from $2 […] Read more