Louise Carduner marks a kernel and then counts the rows during a Manitoba-Saskatchewan one-woman corn crop tour.

Corn crop estimates, the old-school way

Apps and satellite services have digitalized the job, but many still prefer to estimate crops up close and personal

Glacier FarmMedia — When it comes to estimating corn crops, Louise Carduner knows there’s an app for that. But she isn’t about to use it. “These are the nicest ears I’ve seen,” Carduner burst out enthusiastically while stripping a fat cob of corn in a field bordering the Red River just north of the U.S. […] Read more


Capacity to sit on this year’s crop waiting for a better price won’t be an option available to everyone.

Feeling the pinch

Uncertainty across commodity and input markets creates difficult choices for farmers

Farmers are facing a tight squeeze this fall. Commodity prices are low, and the lower input prices that they’re used to this time of year are not materializing. Keystone Agricultural Producers president Jill Verwey says it’s a tough time for growers. “Being able to make a profit this year is going to be pretty slim,” […] Read more

Would Bunge have to get out of G3?

Good question. While we don’t yet have an answer, the federal Competition Bureau’s recent language suggests Bunge’s continued part-ownership of G3 would be a regulatory sore spot in a merger with Viterra. The basic background: U.S.-based Bunge, the “B” in the “ABCD” group of companies that handle the bulk of global grain trade, last June […] Read more


(Combyne Ag video screengrab via YouTube)

Bayer’s crop marketing, crop production platforms in sync

FieldView, Combyne platforms now integrated

Combyne, the made-in-Canada grain marketing platform Bayer bought earlier this year, is now fully on speaking terms with the company’s Climate FieldView precision ag platform. Bayer on Oct. 30 announced integration of the two platforms, which it said will allow grain farmers in Canada and the U.S. to connect their marketing data in Combyne and […] Read more

This screen capture from a tablet shows the kinds of marketing information and planning the GrainFox program provides so producers can take advantage of good prices and meet their cash flow needs.

Crop marketing gets personal

Analyzing a world of data to develop a custom-made marketing program

The longstanding western Canadian marketing consultants FarmLink Marketing Solutions has launched a new grain marketing platform for small- and medium-sized farming operations that sets a new standard for the sometimes difficult decisions on when to sell crops. Welcome to GrainFox. Launched in late winter, it is designed to analyze tons of external marketing information, along […] Read more



Signage on Viterra’s office building in Regina. (Dave Bedard photo)

Viterra to exit Russian grain trade

The company's team in Russia to create new grain exporter

London | Reuters — Global grain trader Viterra’s management team in Russia plans to create an independent Russian grain exporter once the company ceases export activities in the country, the head of its Russian office, Nikolai Demyanov, told Reuters on Thursday. Viterra — whose owners include mining and trading giant Glencore and the investment management […] Read more