Crops & Production Tips

Australian crops improve, but well off recent records

Winter crop harvest reportedly progressing quicker, earlier than recent years

By GFM Network News December 4, 2023

Australia’s winter crop production likely beat earlier expectations but will still be down considerably compared to the record-large production in recent years, according to the latest crop report from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES).

Andrea Borodenko and Antoine Casimir have acquired Quebec’s Production Lareault.(CNW Group/Production Lareault)

Crops, Fruit/Vegetables

Major strawberry plant producer changes hands

New owners get funding to buy Lareault business

By Dave Bedard, GFM Network News December 4, 2023

The Quebec company billed as Canada’s largest producer of strawberry plants has picked up new ownership after nearly 70 years. Production Lareault, based on just over 450 acres at Lavaltrie, Que. — about 40 km northeast of Montreal, in the province’s Lanaudiere region — has been acquired by investors Antoine Casimir and Andrea Borodenko for […] Read more

(Screengrab from Merit Functional Foods video via YouTube)

Canola, Crops, Markets, Peas

Merit Foods pays off operating lender, no deal yet for plant

Plant-based protein processor in receivership since March

By Dave Bedard, GFM Network News December 4, 2023

A Winnipeg pea and canola protein processor in receivership since this spring remains mothballed for now with no firm buyer — but has paid off one of its three secured creditors. Merit Functional Foods, which entered receivership March 1 after just two years’ operation, has sold all its remaining finished and raw inventory and directed […] Read more

Crops, Markets, Reuters

Canadian wheat, canola harvests expand, rebound from dry conditions

Global wheat ending stocks have fallen four years in a row on tough weather conditions

By Reuters, Rod Nickel, GFM Network News December 4, 2023

Canadian farmers will harvest more wheat and canola than was expected several months ago, as crops rallied from dry conditions that threatened yields, a government report showed on Monday.

Cereals, Crops, Markets, Spring Wheat

Canadian spring wheat bids mixed following choppy U.S. futures

The Canadian dollar was up nearly two-thirds of a cent on its U.S. counterpart

By GFM Network News December 1, 2023

Spring wheat bids in Western Canada were mixed during the week ended Nov. 1, as futures in the United States hit contract lows before bouncing higher and strength in the Canadian dollar cut into basis levels.

Crops, Markets

Higher canola, wheat production expected in StatCan report

Traders raise concerns about report accuracy

By GFM Network News December 1, 2023

MarketsFarm — There was a consensus among several traders and analysts that Statistics Canada will very likely raise its estimates on canola and wheat production for 2023-24. Yields on the Prairies were better than expected following a difficult first half of the growing period, as the weather improved during the second half. StatCan is set […] Read more

Barley, Corn, Crops, Markets

Feed weekly outlook: Corn imports, larger crop prospects pressure barley

StatCan expected to raise barley crop estimate

By Phil Franz-Warkentin, GFM Network News December 1, 2023

MarketsFarm — The feed barley market in Western Canada remains relatively flat as steady corn imports from the U.S. keep domestic feeders well supplied. Ideas that Canadian production ended up above earlier expectations were also keeping a lid on the domestic market. Delivered barley into the Lethbridge, Alta. area is currently priced in the $300-$320 […] Read more

CBOT March 2024 soft red winter wheat with 20-day moving average, MGEX March 2024 hard red spring wheat (yellow high/low/close) and K.C. March 2024 hard red winter wheat (orange H/L/C). (Barchart)

Crops, Markets, Reuters

U.S. grains: Chicago wheat, corn rally as export sales top forecasts

Soybeans lower in narrow trading

By GFM Network News November 30, 2023

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago wheat and corn futures climbed more than one per cent on Thursday as traders covered more short positions following a slump to multi-year lows and as weekly export sales topped forecasts and included sizeable purchases by major importer China. Soybeans were lower in range-bound trading after the U.S. Department of […] Read more

Dr. Dan Undersander, middle, is the 2023 winner of the Canadian Forage and Grassland Association Leadership Award. He is joined by Cedric MacLeod, executive director of CFGA, left and Eric Boot, right, chair, international exporters of CFGA.
Photo: Catherine Brown

Crops, Forages

Forage association presents 2023 Leadership Award

By GFM Network News November 30, 2023

The Canadian Forage and Grassland Association (CFGA) presented its Leadership Award at its 14th Annual Conference on Nov. 29, in Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia, to Dr. Dan Undersander of Wisconsin – the first non-Canadian to win this award. As well as being the keynote speaker at the conference, Undersander has worked as a forage […] Read more

McCain foods has launched Presia Ag Insights, a firm that will use artificial intelligence to advise growers. Photo: McCain Foods

Markets, Potatoes

McCain launches new predictive ag firm

By Glacier FarmMedia, GFM Network News November 30, 2023

McCain Foods has formed a new digital agriculture subsidiary, Presia Ag Insights. The move builds on McCain’s 2022 acquisition of a “predictive crop portfolio” from Resson, a Fredricton, New Brunswick firm that uses artificial intelligence to advise farmers on crop management decisions. McCain, in a media release, said the Presia launch is “the result of […] Read more

GFM Network News

U.S. livestock: Cattle fall sharply as Trump says he’s working to lower beef costs

Alberta Crop Report: Harvest reaches completion

U.S. grains: Corn, soybeans rise on yield uncertainty, firming cash markets

Crops