Tour sees ‘extraordinary’ wheat crop in North Dakota

Bismarck, North Dakota/Reuters — Big spring wheat yields were projected in southern North Dakota as abundant soil moisture and cool weather helped foster crop development following an uneven planting season, scouts on an annual crop tour found on Tuesday. “I think we have seen an extraordinary crop,” said Dan Wogsland, executive director of the North […] Read more

GRAINS: U.S. corn slides to 4-yr lows on bright harvest prospects

U.S. corn futures drifted to fresh four-year lows on Tuesday, erasing early gains as favorable weather forecasts bolstered expectations for a bumper harvest, traders said. Wheat followed corn down. Soybeans closed mostly lower, led by new-crop months, but the spot August contract rose on export demand for U.S. soybeans and soymeal. At the Chicago Board […] Read more


Ag Canada tightens grain/oilseed stocks projections

CNS — Ending stocks of Canada’s major grains and oilseeds at the close of the upcoming 2014/15 (Jul/Nov) crop year will be tighter than earlier projections, according to updated supply/demand tables released by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s market analysis branch on July 22. The latest tables take into account the latest acreage estimates released by […] Read more




GRAINS: Wheat futures fall a day after Ukraine crash price spike

Reuters — U.S. wheat futures fell 3.4 per cent on Friday, erasing gains posted a day earlier following the downing of a Malaysian commercial airliner over eastern Ukraine, while Chicago Board of Trade corn futures also declined and soybeans were mostly lower. Investors were worried an escalation of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, both […] Read more


Whether to spray for fusarium: flowering period is key

Whether to spray for fusarium: flowering period is key

Wet weather in eastern Saskatchewan and much of Manitoba means farmers likely have fusarium head blight risk on their minds. But cereal grades are only at stake risk if environmental risks match up with flowering, a crop pathologist says. Vikram Bisht, field crop pathologist with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, says two or three […] Read more

(Country Guide file photo)

Prairie wheat bids steady overall

CNS Canada — Cash bids for Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) wheat showed some improvement at many delivery points across Western Canada during the week ended Monday, and held steady overall despite sharp declines in U.S. futures. Average spot bids for CWRS (13.5 per cent protein) across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta came in Monday at […] Read more


Three ways to sample

Three ways to sample

If you don’t want any nasty surprises later, make sure your 
sample is a good representative of the grain you plan to sell


Taking representative samples is a critical step to understanding the quality or other characteristics of anything that is tested in some way. Rarely, if ever, is an entire organism, crop or object tested for quality, consistency, disease, protein, etc. A sample is generally taken and the results of the tests on the sample are presumed to […] Read more