CBOT July 2021 corn (candlesticks) with CBOT July 2021 wheat (orange line) and July 2021 soybeans (dark green line, left column). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn, soy, wheat up after sell-off

Some traders feel Thursday's sell-off overdone

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn, soybean and wheat futures rose sharply on Friday, rebounding from steep declines a day earlier on bargain-buying ahead of the weekend and uncertainty about weather in the Midwest crop belt, analysts said. Fresh export interest lent support as this week’s break in futures appeared to stimulate demand. Chinese state-owned […] Read more

CBOT July 2021 corn (candlesticks) with MGEX, CBOT and K.C. July 2021 wheat (green, black and orange lines). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn, soy plunge on weather, broad commodities sell-off

CBOT wheat follows trend lower

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn and soybean futures fell sharply on Thursday, pressured by outlooks for rain and cooler temperatures in the Midwest crop belt, as well as spillover from broad-based selling in the commodities sector, analysts said. Wheat followed the weaker trend, with seasonal pressure noted from the U.S. winter wheat harvest. Chicago […] Read more


CME August 2021 lean hogs (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, brown and black lines) and August 2021 live cattle (dark red open/high/low/close). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Hogs limit down for second consecutive day

CME August cattle end lower

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures fell by an exchange-imposed limit for a second consecutive session on Thursday as commodities declined broadly. Selling by index funds fueled losses in markets from hogs to cattle and corn, after the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled it might raise interest rates sooner than expected, […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Farmland appreciation continues through pandemic year

FCC report puts Canada's average land value increase at 5.4 per cent

Economic churn across Canada from the global COVID-19 pandemic didn’t faze the country’s real estate market — nor its farmland market in particular — in 2020, according to the latest review from the federal farm lending agency. Farm Credit Canada on Monday released its 2020 Farmland Values report, showing an average increase of 5.4 per […] Read more


The dangers of cheap money

The dangers of cheap money

Interest rates at historical lows could pose future problems for farmers

For farmers burdened with heavy debts, historically low interest rates can seem to be salvation. Lower payments for equipment, for land loans, for bills past due — it’s life support for financially squeezed farms and, for that matter, for most other kinds of business other than banks and other lenders, which can’t get much profit […] Read more

(Greg Berg photo)

Machinery costs driving up fixed farming expenses

MarketsFarm — Fixed costs on farms continue to rise year-over-year, a statistic largely attributed to increasing land values and interest rates. At the beginning of 2019, Farm Credit Canada (FCC) reported farmland values across Canada increased by an average of 6.6 per cent during the previous year. But that’s not the main driver of fixed […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Report shows slower pace for rising farmland values

While lower-valued farmland more often showed a higher rate of increase, and price hikes varied from region to region, Canada’s farmland values on average have booked their slowest year-over-year rate of increase in almost a decade. That’s according to the annual Farmland Values Report from Farm Credit Canada (FCC), in which the federal ag lending […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

FCC offers up new Starter Loans

“Preferential” loan rates are available to young farmers or agribusinesspeople planning start-ups through a new Farm Credit Canada lending program. Lawrence MacAulay, addressing the Canadian Federation of Agriculture’s annual meeting Wednesday in Ottawa when he was still federal minister of agriculture, unveiled the federal ag lending agency’s new Starter Loan Program. The program, according to […] Read more



As interest rates edge upwards, it’s probably a good idea to know how much flexibility you have to purchase major assets, should the opportunity arise.

Is it too expensive to borrow money?

When the neighbour’s land is for sale, are interest rates too high to say 'yes?'

The best time to figure out whether or not you can afford to borrow more money probably isn’t when you get a tip off that the neighbour wants to sell some land at a really tempting price. But inevitably, it’s when faced with those kinds of situations that producers take stock of where they are […] Read more