Ag Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau speaks to media at Cigi in Winnipeg on March 13, 2019. (Dave Bedard photo)

Cash advance boost to take effect next week

Regulations permanently expanding loan limits under the federal Advance Payments Program — and temporarily boosting interest-free advances for canola growers — are in place for applications to begin next Monday at the earliest. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said Monday amendments to the Agricultural Marketing Programs Regulations are now in place to boost the APP loan […] Read more




Keith Gabert, Canola Council of Canada agronomist, uses a simple tub and bleach system to sterilize his work boots and avoid spreading disease from field to field.

Disease-free boots and a testing tool

Spotted in the field: homemade ideas that don't cost a lot, but work

They are two separate topics completely, but here are a couple of good ideas that western Canadian field specialists came up with for sanitizing rubber boots to reduce the risk of spreading clubroot (or any soil borne disease), and a handy homemade sample collection tool for measuring spray volumes when calibrating a field sprayer. Boot […] Read more





(Kat72/iStock/Getty Images)

Huge increase predicted in canola ending stocks

MarketsFarm — Canadian canola carryout stocks are forecast to rise to a record 5.3 million tonnes by the end of the 2019-20 marketing year, more than doubling the previous five-year average, according to updated estimates from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s market analysis division. While the department, in its estimates, expects total canola production to decline […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canola Council of Canada)

Input Capital steps back from mortgage expansion plans

Up against the current canola market, “commodity streaming” firm Input Capital has put off plans to ramp up its mortgage business with canola growers. The publicly traded Regina company in February announced a “comprehensive review of strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value” and said it was in “an ongoing search for appropriate scalable sources of […] Read more



(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Net short position keeps growing in canola

MarketsFarm — The large speculative short position in ICE Futures canola contracts continued to grow during the week ended Tuesday, as speculators added to their bearish bets on the market, according to the latest commitment of traders (CoT) report compiled by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Managed money and other reportable speculators had […] Read more