WTO talks collapse

The Doha round of world trade talks has collapsed in what one former trade chief called the biggest blow to globalization since the end of the Cold War. An emergency World Trade Organization summit aimed at resuscitating the seven-year long talks broke down in acrimony last night. Negotiators warned that there was now little or […] Read more

Ukraine assistance program extended

A Canadian program to assist Ukrainian farmers in the transition to a more modern economy has been extended for two years. The Canada-Ukraine Facility for Agriculture Reform and Modernization (FARM) Program is managed by Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership (STEP) with partnerships with the Saskatchewan and Manitoba Provincial Governments and the Canadian International Development Agency […] Read more


Viterra announces support for Iowa cleanup efforts

Grain handler Viterra and its subsidiary Can-Oat Milling are contributing $30,000 towards flood cleanup efforts in Iowa following devastating floods in the state earlier this month. Both companies have a number of key business partnerships in the region. The funds will be allocated to recovery initiatives in the city of Cedar Rapids and surrounding areas. […] Read more

WTO trade talks extended briefly

The Doha Round of world trade talks has been granted a brief reprieve until midweek, in an effort to save the negotiations from collapse. Some European countries have expressed concerns over proposed concessions they believe will harm their farmers. About 30 trade ministers are trying to wrap up a deal aimed at boosting the world […] Read more


Manitoba sees first west nile mosquito

The Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health reports that Manitoba’s mosquito surveillance program has identified the first Culex tarsalis mosquito samples infected with West Nile virus in Manitoba in 2008. Samples of Culex tarsalis from adult mosquito traps in the towns of Deloraine and Boissevain in the Assiniboine Regional Health Authority tested positive […] Read more

Margins shrink less on larger farms: StatsCan

Canada’s largest farms, those with annual revenues of $500,000 or more, are becoming a major economic force in the country. Large farms are growing in numbers, the people who run them invest more in their businesses, and more large farms are profitable than smaller ones. While smaller farms dominate in numbers, large farms dominate both […] Read more


Drozd: $147 crude no surprise, but now what?

A “bull flag” formation appeared on the monthly crude oil chart in early March 2008, which accurately predicted the ensuing price advance to $147 per barrel. Flags are consolidation patterns within the existing price trend. In an uptrend, the formation truly resembles a flag. It stands atop a “flagpole” and slants downward in the shape […] Read more

Crop prices up 40 per cent in May: StatsCan

Prices farmers received for their commodities rose 14.1 per cent in May 2008 from the same month a year earlier, as significant gains in crop prices offset declines in livestock prices. Prices that producers received for crops were up 40.2 per cent in May compared with May 2007, continuing double-digit increases which began in November 2006. Farmers received higher prices for […] Read more


Nominations open for national ag awards

Nominations are now open until Sept. 15 for the 2008 Canadian Agri-Food Awards of Excellence, meant to honour “innovative thinkers and entrepreneurs that are moving Canadian agriculture forward everyday,” Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said Friday. The awards are presented each year in

New loans up at Farm Credit

Farm Credit Canada has posted another increase in the number and total dollar amount of new loans to farmers in its 2007-08 fiscal year. In its annual report, released Thursday, the federal ag lending agency listed $4.28 billion in new loans for the year ending March 31, up from $3.71 billion in 2006-07. That’s spread […] Read more