Crops & Production Tips

Prairie cash wheat: Bids climb higher

By Phil Franz-Warkentin, GFM Network News May 14, 2022

MarketsFarm — A rally in U.S. wheat futures together with a downturn in the Canadian dollar combined to take Prairie wheat bids sharply higher during the second week of May. Average Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS, 13.5 per cent protein) wheat prices were up by $40.80-$45 per tonne during the week ended May 12, according […] Read more

A grain storage bin lay on a gravel road near Litchfield, Nebraska, about 230 km west of Lincoln, after high winds swept across the U.S. Great Plains and upper Midwest, in this still image from a social media video. (Kevin Fulton image via Reuters)

Crops, Reuters, Weather

Dust storm, hurricane-force winds tear across U.S. upper Midwest

By Christopher Walljasper, GFM Network News May 14, 2022

Chicago | Reuters — Hurricane-force winds tore across the U.S. upper Midwest Thursday evening, sending walls of dust across cities and rural towns, causing widespread property damage and killing at least two people. Straight-line winds up to 170 km/h reached from Kansas to Wisconsin, pushing waves of farmland topsoil across the horizon and plunging communities […] Read more

CBOT July 2022 soft red wheat (candlesticks) with MGEX July 2022 spring wheat (yellow line) and K.C. July 2022 hard red wheat (orange line). (Barchart)

Crops, Markets, Reuters

U.S. grains: CBOT wheat, corn ease off rally on supply concerns

Export outlook, crude oil support soybeans

By Tom Polansek, GFM Network News May 14, 2022

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade wheat and corn futures weakened on Friday, a day after rising on U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasts that indicated tightening global supplies. Traders took some profits ahead of the weekend and on expectations that U.S. farmers are advancing corn plantings thanks to improved Midwest crop weather, analysts […] Read more

One of those curveballs nature can throw happened when Dan Johnson extracted the DNA from samples of Bruner’s spur-throated grasshopper (shown above) from areas of Alberta, British Columbia and Wyoming and found each region’s samples had very different DNA.

Crops, Features

Effective insect sampling tips

An entomologist offers recommendations and insights on pest population sampling

By Madeleine Baerg May 13, 2022

As every farmer knows, insect pests of every kind and colour can — very literally — take a giant bite out of their crops. Limiting insect damage depends on timely control. That said, jumping too quickly to insecticides carries financial and long-term sustainability consequences. The key to good pest control is “all in the details,” […] Read more

The plant species Arabidopsis thaliana is seen sprouting at a University of Florida laboratory in a small amount of lunar regolith — soil from the moon — on May 5, 2021. (Photo: Tyler Jones, UF/IFAS Lunar Plants Research Documentation/Handout via Reuters)

Crops, Reuters

In one giant leap for Earth plants, seeds are grown in moon soil

By Will Dunham, GFM Network News May 13, 2022

Washington | Reuters — Scientists for the first time have grown seeds in soil from the moon — samples retrieved during NASA missions in 1969 and 1972 — in an achievement that heralds the promise of using earthly plants to support human outposts on other worlds. Researchers said on Thursday they planted seeds of a […] Read more

Corn seedlings in southern Ontario in 2021. (Farmtario photo by John Greig)

Crops, Weather

Spring planting well underway in Ontario

By GFM Network News May 13, 2022

MarketsFarm — Farmers are well into seeding their crops for 2022, according to Wednesday’s crop report from Ontario’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). The report noted planting of corn, soybeans and spring cereals started late last week — the exception being where there are heavier soils. OMAFRA projected planting could be 80 […] Read more

An aerial view of flooded farmland near Rosenort, Man., about 50 km south of Winnipeg, on May 6, 2022. (Manitoba Co-operator photo by Allan Dawson)

Barley, Corn, Crops, Markets

Feed weekly outlook: Market watching new-crop weather

By Phil Franz-Warkentin, GFM Network News May 13, 2022

MarketsFarm — With excessive moisture in the eastern Prairies and persistent drought in southern Alberta, uncertainty over new-crop grain production is keeping some caution in the feed market. The spot market is relatively steady as the market waits for a better picture on this year’s growing conditions. “A lot of the feedlots have all the […] Read more

Crops, Markets

CBOT weekly outlook: Markets react to USDA supply/demand estimates

Wheat data 'surprisingly supportive'

By GFM Network News May 13, 2022

MarketsFarm — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Thursday released its monthly world agriculture supply/demand estimates (WASDE) — the first to show estimates for the 2022-23 marketing year — and markets reacted quickly. Ryan Ettner, a broker for Allendale Inc. at McHenry, Ill., said that while figures for corn and soybeans were in line […] Read more

K.C. July 2022 hard red wheat (candlesticks) with MGEX July 2022 spring wheat (yellow line) and CBOT July 2022 wheat (orange line). (Barchart)

Crops, Markets, Reuters

U.S. grains: Wheats up on ‘indisputably bullish’ cuts to harvest estimates

MGEX July wheat limit up, K.C. July wheat hits contract high

By Tom Polansek, GFM Network News May 12, 2022

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures set contract highs on Thursday as the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) slashed its production forecast for the variety that is grown in the U.S. Plains and used to make bread. USDA, in a monthly crop report, projected hard red winter wheat output at 590 million bushels, down […] Read more

Crops

Mildew scrapped as grading factor for No. 3 wheats

Grading changes also planned for canola admixture, splits in peas, excreta in mustard

By Dave Bedard, GFM Network News May 12, 2022

The Canadian Grain Commission will change its standard samples for mildew in No. 1 and No. 2 wheats, and drop it as a grading factor for No. 3 wheats, effective this summer. The CGC on Monday laid out a list of changes to its grain grading policies and standards for wheat, canola, peas, beans and […] Read more

Media reports suggest U.S. dairy access to Canada a topic of conversation in Ottawa

U.S. livestock: Cattle choppy amid weak cash market, tight supply

China’s canola, soybeans imports to drop one million tonnes each

GFM Network News