Soft white spring wheat.

A look back at pricing your wheat

Marketing grain is always a risky business. Here’s what could have happened

Spring seeding and combining went better than expected for the most part across the Prairies and the crops are off to a decent start. Excess rains in some regions and dryness in others has caused some concerns but overall the crop is in and growing and looking good. Weather forecasters are watching the current La […] Read more

What is the cattle futures market saying?

What is the cattle futures market saying?

The combination of cash and futures market numbers will point the way

I’ve received numerous calls over the past month from cow-calf producers and backgrounding operators in regards to a marketing strategy for their individual operation. In four previous articles I’ve discussed the feeder cattle futures market and the historical relationship between the cash and futures market. I analyzed basis levels and discussed using the basis and futures for […] Read more


May 2017 canola futures chart.

A price chart is worth a thousand words

What can we learn from a look back at this May 2017 canola futures chart?

I was looking at this May 2017 canola futures charts the other day to remind myself just how much we can learn from them. It is a lot easier to figure out the trends and patterns on a chart after they’ve happened than it is to decipher what will happen while it is happening. Cyclical […] Read more

Concept of making money agriculture

Locking your crop prices in early

Some farmers are afraid to take on the risks of pricing too early in the growing season

In my experience, most farmers will not price grains six months prior to seeding because it seems too risky — they’re concerned about delivery risk. How can you reduce or eliminate delivery risk so that, if prices are profitable early in the year, you’re not afraid to price some or most of your crop and […] Read more



grain truck unloading

Currency and the wheat basis

Grain companies are blending their currency conversions into the wheat basis. 
For western Canadian farmers, this is not pricing transparency at its best

As I explained in my last article maybe we aren’t being ripped off with the wheat basis, but it looks to me like we are being misled (ripped off) with the currency conversion being calculated within the basis! Let me expand on this with some numbers and facts so that you can decide what transparency […] Read more