(Thinkstock photo)

Prairie cash wheat: Stronger crop prospects, loonie lower bids

MGEX, K.C. wheat down on week

MarketsFarm — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s projected increases for domestic and worldwide wheat ending stocks, along with a strengthening Canadian dollar, brought pressure onto western Canadian wheat bids for the week ended Thursday. In its monthly world agricultural supply and demand estimates (WASDE) report on Wednesday, USDA showed a projected 1.78 million-tonne rise in […] Read more

CBOT March 2022 corn (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (yellow, orange and dark green lines). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn, soy sag on South America weather forecasts

Argentina rain outlook tempers crop fears

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn and soybean futures tumbled on Thursday on expectations that rains forecast for dry crop-growing areas of South America may limit harvest losses, traders said. Weather forecasts show parched areas of Argentina, the world’s top exporter of processed soy and No. 2 producer of corn, may receive significant rainfall from […] Read more



U.S. grain firm Scoular is expanding its reach in the flax market with a new processing plant just outside Regina. (Scoular.com)

Scoular fires up flax processing near Regina

Plant to process flax for food- and feed-grade markets

U.S. grain handler Scoular’s Canadian arm has opened a new flax processing operation at its site just southeast of Regina, into what it describes as a record-strong flax market. Scoular Canada on Wednesday announced the opening of its “high-speed” flax line at Richardson, Sask., where it already processes and cleans lentils, peas and canary seed. […] Read more



(OceanFishing/iStock/Getty Images)

CBOT weekly outlook: ‘No fireworks’ in January USDA reports

MarketsFarm — Updated supply/demand data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture were slightly bearish for grains and relatively neutral for soybeans, although there were no real surprises, according to an analyst. “There were no fireworks out of this report,” said Terry Reilly of Futures International in Chicago. World numbers put some pressure on wheat futures, […] Read more


CBOT March 2022 wheat (candlesticks) with K.C. March 2022 wheat (yellow line) and MGEX March 2022 wheat (green line, left column). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Wheat futures fall on bigger-than-expected plantings, stocks

Winter wheat plantings exceed analysts' expectations; USDA also cuts corn, soybean crop estimates in South America

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures extended losses on Wednesday after the U.S. Department of Agriculture projected that domestic farmers planted more acres than traders anticipated. Larger-than-expected USDA estimates for wheat inventories added pressure on the market, analysts said, after supply concerns drove Chicago Board of Trade futures prices to nine-year highs in November. […] Read more

In this photo, the corn on the right has been treated with Utrisha N while the corn on the left hasn’t.

A new source of nitrogen

Biological products like Envita and Utrisha N enable crops to harvest nitrogen from the air

It’s an essential element for plant growth, but nitrogen in the air all around us has been unavailable to major crops grown in Western Canada — at least until now. New biological products have arrived in the marketplace that enable crops like wheat, canola, soybean and corn to harvest nitrogen from the air. First on […] Read more


In 2019, high levels of insensitivity of the anthracnose pathogen to Group 11 fungicides was confirmed in Saskatchewan lentil fields. Testing to confirm this insensitivity revealed a mutation (G143A) that enables the pathogen to have cross-resistance to all Group 11 fungicides.

Another tool to control anthracnose

New label registrations will help combat fungicide insensitivity

Thanks to an expanded label registration, western Canadian lentil growers will have a new tool from Bayer Crop Science for effective disease control in the 2022 crop year. As of mid-2021, the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) expanded the label of a well-established fungicide — Proline Gold — to include anthracnose control in lentils. At […] Read more

File photo of an Ontario cherry orchard. (UpdogDesigns/iStock/Getty Images)

Ontario to extend labour-related crop loss coverage

Losses due to COVID-19-related labour disruptions covered

A temporary crop insurance expansion that covers Ontario farms against crop losses due to “on-farm labour disruptions” caused by COVID-19 will be held over for yet another year. Agricorp, the province’s farm program delivery agency, announced in late December the feature first introduced in 2020 will be included again in 2022, at the same coverage […] Read more