Cereals & Production Tips

Prairie cash wheat: Lower loonie strengthens bids

By GFM Network News February 9, 2020

MarketsFarm — Wheat bids in Western Canada for the week ended Thursday were up for Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) and Canada Prairie Spring Red (CPSR) wheat. Bids for Canada Western Amber Durum (CWAD) were steady to higher. The Canadian dollar was down by approximately four-10ths of a cent during the week, which provided support […] Read more

Barley, Crops, Markets

Strong export demand, acreage ahead for barley

Lower supplies from Australia benefit Canadian growers

By GFM Network News February 8, 2020

MarketsFarm — Canadian malting barley acreage is expected to remain high in the coming year, mostly due to strong export demand. Peter Watts, managing director of the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Center in Winnipeg, said tough harvest conditions were partially to blame for lowered malt barley output in 2019. “We had a fairly lousy harvest, […] Read more

Barley, Crops, Markets, Spring Wheat

Feed weekly outlook: Buyers not looking to make purchases

By GFM Network News February 6, 2020

MarketsFarm — Feed grain prices were beginning to soften as many buyers don’t have a major need to purchase from growers, said Nelson Neumann, senior trader for Agfinity in Stony Plain, Alta. “There’s still obviously a demand, but buyers are pretty well covered for the February-March timeframe. That’s a window where a lot of growers […] Read more

Palestinian farmers, helped by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), use tractors to plow a field near the Israel Gaza border in the central Gaza Strip on Feb. 3, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)

Cereals, Crops, Reuters

Gaza farmers return to lands along volatile Israeli border

By GFM Network News February 5, 2020

Gaza | Reuters — Returning to his fields for the first time in 14 years, Palestinian farmer Naser Abu Isaeed surveyed the toll taken by conflict on formerly productive soil. “I saw an empty area full of holes and dry weeds,” said Abu Isaeed, who once grew fruit on the tracts along Gaza’s volatile border […] Read more

Fall rye flowering in south-central Manitoba. (Allan Dawson photo)

Cereals, Crops, Markets

Rye production likely won’t increase in 2020

By GFM Network News February 5, 2020

MarketsFarm — Strong prices served as an incentive for farmers to plant more rye in 2019, but one grower believes there won’t be as much production in 2020 due to the wet fall. “Winter cereals got seeded, but not the acres guys were planning,” said Brad White, a Saskatchewan farmer and a director with Winter […] Read more

Hard white winter wheat growing in North Carolina in 2010. (Dave Marshall photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Crops, Weather, Winter Wheat

U.S. winter wheat conditions mostly fair to good

By MarketsFarm Team, GFM Network News February 4, 2020

MarketsFarm — The condition of the bulk of the U.S. winter wheat crop, taken from data provided by 17 reporting states, was at 29 per cent fair and 48.1 per cent good at the end of January. The rest of those states’ crops stood at 4.2 very poor, 12.1 poor and 7.2 per cent excellent, […] Read more

General Mills’ Steven Rosenzweig and Will Harris of White Oak Pastures test soil that has been under a regenerative management system.

Cereals, Features

General Mills’ interest in regenerative agriculture

From testing a sample farm’s GHG emissions to running a pilot project for oat growers

By Angela Lovell February 3, 2020

General Mills recently commissioned a study into the regenerative agricultural practices of a farm supplying grass-fed beef for some of the company’s products. The study was conducted by environmental sustainability consultants, Quantis, at White Oak Pastures, a 3,000-acre family farm in Bluffton, Georgia. The farm owner, Will Harris, began to shift the farm from conventional to […] Read more

Crops, Markets, Spring Wheat, Winter Wheat

Prairie cash wheat: Bids fall with U.S. futures

By Phil Franz-Warkentin, GFM Network News January 31, 2020

MarketsFarm — Hard red spring wheat bids in Western Canada moved lower during the week ended Thursday, as a sell-off in U.S. futures weighed on prices. Concerns that the Wuhan coronavirus would lead to a slowdown in the global economy accounted for some of the broad speculative selling that weighed on most grain markets during […] Read more

Along with three other owner/operators, Enns manages 10,600 acres of grains near Rosthern, Sask.

Barley, Crops, Features

Making malt barley: six tips for success

Top malt barley growers offer their advice to get your barley crop to make malt 

By Melanie Epp January 31, 2020

Barley produced for malting must meet strict quality standards before acceptance by end users. A crop that doesn’t make malt will be sold off as feed, often at considerable economic loss. Two large-scale malt barley producers share their tips on which management practices they employ to ensure their crop makes malt. John Burns is part […] Read more

Barley. (Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Barley, Crops, Markets, Spring Wheat

Feed weekly outlook: Rally likely to end soon

By GFM Network News January 30, 2020

MarketsFarm — After a bit of a rally for feed grain prices over the last three to four weeks, the feedlots are on the full side, said Brandon Motz of CorNine Commodities at Lacombe, Alta. “That normally means we back off a little bit,” he said, noting there hasn’t been an uptick in deliveries with […] Read more

GFM Network News

U.S. grains: Soybean prices rise as China-U.S. truce assessed

U.S. livestock: Cattle futures post limit-down losses

ICE canola weekly outlook: Market rangebound

Cereals