Bean burgers made with canola protein powder at Burcon’s alternative meats protein lab in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada August 23, 2019. Picture taken August 23, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon VanRaes

Big Ag wants a cut of booming fake-meat market

Winnipeg/Chicago | Reuters — Bunge, one the world’s biggest grain traders, recently disclosed the 1.6 per cent stake it had purchased in the fast-growing fake-meat startup Beyond Meat. The play looked smart after the stock surged more than 250 per cent since the faux burger and sausage maker’s initial public offering in May. Indeed, Beyond […] Read more

Workers sit outside the Tyson Fresh Meats processing plant at Holcomb, Kan. on Aug. 12, 2019, three days after a fire heavily damaged the facility. (Photo: Reuters/Adam Shrimplin)

USDA to probe beef market after Tyson plant fire

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue ordered an investigation into widening prices between cattle and beef on Wednesday after a recent fire at a Tyson Foods slaughterhouse in Holcomb, Kansas, shut the plant. Cattle prices have tanked because the fire temporarily eliminated a key buyer of livestock. Producers have worried that meat […] Read more


File photo of lentils being moved into bins in Saskatchewan. (Bobloblaw/iStock/Getty Images)

Cargill not taking glufosinate-desiccated lentils

One of the world’s biggest grain companies has decided not to chance accepting Canadian lentils that were desiccated with a well known herbicide. Cargill announced Friday it will now have a “no tolerance” restriction on glufosinate ammonia in its grain delivery terms for lentils, including lentils that have had the Group 10 herbicide applied in […] Read more



(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Cargill quarterly profit drops on trade tensions, U.S. floods

Chicago | Reuters — Global commodities trader Cargill reported a 41 per cent drop in adjusted quarterly profit on Thursday, citing supply disruptions stemming from the U.S.-China trade war and also flooding in the central United States that hit marketing and transportation of grains and livestock. Cargill, the largest privately held U.S. company, said adjusted […] Read more



(File photo by Dave Bedard)

U.S. CFTC awards nearly US$2.5 million to Cargill whistleblower

Chicago | Reuters — The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has awarded about US$2.5 million to a whistleblower in a 2017 case against global grain trader Cargill over alleged violations in how it handled trades, the agency said Tuesday. The award, while significant in size, was reduced “because of the whistleblower’s delay in reporting” the […] Read more

Jim Smolik, shown here in a 2014 photo, contravened two sections of the Conflict of Interest Act, Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion says in a report released May 30, 2019. (Manitoba Co-operator photo by Allan Dawson)

Former CGC assistant chief commissioner broke conflict rules

Jim Smolik, a former Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) assistant chief and acting chief commissioner, contravened post-employment obligations under the federal Conflict of Interest Act while working for Cargill Canada. That’s according to a 24-page report released May 30 by Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion. Dion ruled Smolik breached Sections 33 and 35(2) […] Read more


Ardent Mills’ flour mill at Rush City, Minn., about 80 km north of St. Paul. (ArdentMills.com)

Ardent Mills to close four U.S. flour mills

Reuters — Ardent Mills will close three U.S. flour mills next month and a fourth in the first quarter of 2020, the flour miller and food ingredient maker announced Friday. The company, a joint venture between ConAgra Foods, Cargill and CHS, said the closures were necessary due to “anticipated demand and to enhance the efficiency […] Read more