Toronto | Reuters — There are no plans to boycott next year’s Women’s World Cup but players will proceed with a gender discrimination lawsuit against FIFA if forced to play on artificial turf, one of the complainants said on Thursday. Reigning FIFA player of the year Nadine Angerer, who is among over 40 international women […] Read more
Women will not boycott World Cup over artificial turf
Now hunger threat shadows Ebola in West Africa
Freetown/Dakar | Reuters — The threat of hunger is tracking Ebola across affected West African nations as the disease kills farmers and their families, drives workers from the fields and creates food shortages. In the worst-hit states of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, Ebola is ravaging their food-producing regions, preventing planting and harvesting, and disrupting […] Read more
German farmers say rapeseed damaged by bugs after EU neonic ban
Hamburg | Reuters — Rapeseed crops in Germany are suffering unusually high levels of insect damage this autumn following the European Union’s ban on a controversial insecticide previously used to protect the oilseed, German farming association DBV said Thursday. Some farmers may suffer lower yields in the upcoming 2015 rapeseed harvest, it said. Germany is […] Read more
U.S. livestock: CME live, feeder cattle repeat record highs
Chicago | Reuters –– Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures on Thursday rose to a record high for a second consecutive session, supported in part by improved wholesale beef prices, traders said. October closed 0.375 cents per pound higher at 162.85 cents, and December up 0.525 cent to 166.425 cents (all figures US$). Thursday morning’s […] Read more
Agrium forecasts smaller-than-expected quarterly profit
Reuters — Fertilizer and ag retail firm Agrium said Wednesday it expected third-quarter earnings from continuing operations of 45 cents to 55 cents per share, falling short of Wall Street expectations. Analysts were expecting Agrium to report third-quarter earnings of 68 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Two of Calgary-based Agrium’s major fertilizer production facilities […] Read more
PED strikes again in SE Manitoba
Manitoba has now booked its fifth hog farm with cases of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED). The provincial chief veterinary officer (CVO) on Tuesday confirmed the case in a nursery finisher barn in the province’s livestock-intensive southeast. While the CVO didn’t give the farm’s exact location, the property is outside a five-kilometre buffer zone around two […] Read more
Chicago corn to test US$3 mark by mid-month, analyst says
CNS Canada — Corn futures on the Chicago Board of Trade were lower during the week ended Wednesday, as funds continued to try and take advantage of new lows on the market. “People in the market come in and try to cherry-pick the bottom,” said Sean Lusk, director of commercial hedging at Walsh Trading in […] Read more
Russia surprises peers with early wheat export market exit
London/Moscow | Reuters — Russian wheat has made a surprise early exit from key global export markets, despite the country’s near-record crop, after domestic prices rose in the fallout from the Ukraine crisis. With a bumper crop and the rouble close to historic lows, Russia could reasonably be expected to actively supply wheat to key […] Read more
U.S. grains: Corn, soy rebound on short-covering
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn and soybeans edged higher on Wednesday as investors covered short positions after prices fell to multiyear lows earlier in the session, and as rains stalled record harvests in the U.S. Midwestern crop belt. Wheat futures also rose, stabilizing after reaching four-year lows last week. The gains followed the U.S. […] Read more
U.S. livestock: CME feeder cattle surge three-cent limit
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange feeder cattle contracts on Wednesday settled up at their maximum three-cents daily price limit, lifted by live cattle futures’ climb to a new high, traders and analysts said. They also cited strong prices for calves for fattening and the corn price slide to a five year low. Less […] Read more