Reuters — Seeds and pesticides company Corteva on Tuesday announced plans to exit about 35 countries and lay off roughly five per cent of its global workforce as part of the company’s cost-cutting plans. A surge in inflation this year to four-decade highs has forced Corporate America to slash planned spending and roll out measures […] Read more
Corteva to exit some markets, cut jobs in cost-saving push
Canada remains among company's 'core' markets
Feed weekly outlook: Prairie grain bids see surprising harvest strength
MarketsFarm — Feed grain bids in Western Canada have shown some strength in recent weeks, despite the advancing harvest. “We’ve been seeing a rally through harvest, which is an odd thing,” grain merchant Jay Janzen of CorNine Commodities at Lacombe, Alta. said. He tied the unseasonable strength to solid demand and a lack of significant […] Read more
U.S. livestock: December lean hogs hit four-week high
CME live cattle also finish stronger
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures touched a four-week high on Thursday on technical buying and concerns about tightening supplies, analysts said. Demand from pork processors helped underpin futures as packers’ profit margins improved, a broker said. Margins were estimated to be $2.45 per hog, up from a loss of $4.15 […] Read more
U.S. grains: Wheat futures fall from two-month highs amid broad sell-off
USDA resumes weekly export sales data
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. grain and soybean futures closed lower on Thursday, with profit-taking dragging wheat down from two-month highs, traders said. Broad-based selling added pressure on prices as traders reduced their risk amid growing warnings of a global economic slowdown, analysts said. “Inflation and recession concerns hit all markets today,” CHS Hedging said. […] Read more
Avian flu circles back in Western Canada
All western provinces book new cases in commercial birds
A relatively quiet summer for highly pathogenic avian influenza in Canada has turned for the worse, with outbreaks on commercial poultry farms in all four western provinces in the past week alone. Cases of high-path avian flu in domestic birds in Canada confirmed and reported by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency since Aug. 31 include: […] Read more
U.S. railroad strike averted
Biden calls deal a 'win for America;' strike's impact would have reached up into Canada
Updated | Washington | Reuters — Major U.S. railroads and unions secured a tentative deal on Thursday after 20 hours of intense talks brokered by President Joe Biden’s administration to avert a rail shutdown that could have hit food and fuel supplies across the country and beyond. Biden called the deal a “big win for […] Read more
U.S. rail embargoes may stymie some Canadian rail traffic
CN halts most cross-border traffic; CP also monitoring situation
Mindful of the potential for snarls on their own tracks, Canada’s big two railways are monitoring talks between a clutch of major U.S. railways and several of their labour unions to avert strikes and/or lockouts that may begin as early as Friday. As of Wednesday, three unions out of the 12 representing unionized rail workers […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hog futures fall
Cattle futures mixed
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. hog futures fell on Wednesday, turning lower on a round of profit-taking after the most-active December contract hit its highest in more than three weeks early in the trading session. Cattle futures were mixed, with live cattle contracts easing for the second day in a row while feeder cattle futures […] Read more
Ontario halal processor to buy poultry packing capacity
Amir Quality Meats taking up Wellington Poultry
An Ontario meat processor specializing in the halal market has a deal in place to boost its capacity by buying a nearby chicken and specialty fowl packer. Amir Quality Meats, which operates a federally registered HACCP-certified boning and cutting plant at Brampton, has an agreement in place to buy the processing plant and “associated supply” […] Read more
ICE weekly outlook: Canola futures continue trending lower
MarketsFarm — ICE Futures canola contracts saw some choppy activity during the week ended Wednesday, but the general trend remains pointed lower. “Whenever canola rebounds, it doesn’t go as high,” analyst Errol Anderson of Pro Market Communications in Calgary said. Anderson described the chart pattern as a “falling top,” with previous attempts at recovery in […] Read more
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