India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks to media on the Parliament premises in New Delhi in this Nov. 18, 2019 file photo. (Photo: Reuters/Altaf Hussain)

India’s levy cut on lentils part of balancing act

Global markets had zero or little forewarning of decision

MarketsFarm — To Pulse Canada, the recent move by the Indian government to temporarily reduce the import levy on lentils from 30 to 10 per cent is part of a balancing act between competing interests. Greg Cherewyk, president of Pulse Canada, explained that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “looking after the needs of a politically […] Read more

Reginald Conyers, a traveling busker, plays the trumpet outside a Safeway while people observing social distancing wait in line to enter the store  in Oakland on March 20, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Kate Munsch)

Panic buying, lockdowns may drive world food inflation

World has ample grain and oilseed supplies, FAO and analysts say

Singapore | Reuters — Lockdowns and panic food buying due to the coronavirus pandemic could ignite world food inflation even though there are ample supplies of staple grains and oilseeds in key exporting nations, a senior economist at FAO and agricultural analysts said. The world’s richest nations poured unprecedented aid into the global economy as […] Read more


(File photo by Dave Bedard)

CN, CP come in under 2018-19 grain revenue caps

Changes to federal rail transport rules that took effect in 2018 have put Canada’s big two railways well under their new Prairie grain revenue caps for the 2018-19 crop year. The Canadian Transportation Agency on Monday announced Canadian National Railway (CN) booked 2018-19 Prairie grain revenue of $933,357,710, a figure $371,116 below what the CTA […] Read more



A look at what’s ahead for the Canadian dollar

A look at what’s ahead for the Canadian dollar

Market Update with Jerry Klassen: Expect a slower economy, more debt and likely more taxes

The Canadian dollar eroded by 7.8 per cent during 2018 with most of this deterioration coming in the fourth quarter. For cattle producers, this isn’t necessarily negative. Recent data shows that year-to-date feeder cattle exports for the week ending Dec. 8, 2018 were 191,863 head, up a whopping 66 per cent over the same period […] Read more

People queue up outside a public supermarket’s doors in Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela, in April 2015. (iStock/Getty Images)

Maduro rebukes Kellogg for leaving Venezuela

Caracas/Valencia | Reuters — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro blasted U.S.-based cereal maker Kellogg Co. on Tuesday for pulling out of the country due to the economic crisis and vowed to hand over the company’s factory to workers. At a campaign rally ahead of Sunday’s presidential election, which Maduro is expected to win, the president called […] Read more


Guarding Wealth: Long-term investing is a sure thing

There are short-term risks, but inflation and survivor bias make long-term bets winners

Let’s have a heart to heart talk about the fundamentals of investing on the farm and off the farm and, for that matter, investing in education for a career or a used car. Every investment has character, whether it’s a tech stock and you have to bet on a new trend or product on the […] Read more

Saskatchewan Farmland Prices.

90 years of Saskatchewan farmland prices

Saskatchewan land prices have been on the move since 1968. What’s next?

Readers have been asking for an update on farmland prices but I was having trouble accessing the required data. Thanks to Terry Bedard of Saskatchewan Agriculture for sending me recent average price data. This data is just for Saskatchewan. Alberta land prices are changed by many factors that are not related to what is grown […] Read more


Low interest rates: opportunity and peril

Low interest rates: opportunity and peril

Low interest rates are tempting, but in the long run, debt always comes with a risk

Almost every Canadian farm family has four financial goals: buy a home, pay off farm and home debt, educate the kids and build up retirement savings. Satisfying all is a problem of balancing each. Very low interest rates for the last five years have made it easier to pay off debts and buy a home, […] Read more

Making the best of inflation

Government taxes what it creates. Here are some strategies for making the best of it

Making capital gains is the essence of investing. Yet many gains are nothing of the sort. They are only the illusory repricing of goods and incomes. Government drives inflation, then taxes stocks and bonds, incomes, house prices and even farms that are part of the repricing. If you think that this is unjust, you’re right. […] Read more