prairies Archives - Page 14 of 17

Forecaster Drew Lerner speaks at Ag Days 2020 in Brandon. (Manitoba Co-operator photo by Alexis Stockford)

Variable Prairie weather makes for uncertain spring ahead

If nothing else, a rainy harvest season helped replenish topsoil moisture

By GFM Network News January 22, 2020

MarketsFarm — Late-season rains wreaked havoc on the 2019 harvest season but were helpful in restoring topsoil moisture to key growing regions in the Prairies. Since snow coverage has been variable across the Prairies so far in 2020, however, the growing season may get off to a rocky start. “If we take a look at […] Read more

The USDA building in Washington, D.C. (Art Wager/iStock/Getty Images)

Canola, Crops, Soybeans

Most oilseed estimates down in USDA’s October outlook

By GFM Network News October 15, 2019

MarketsFarm — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its monthly oil crops outlook on Tuesday featuring reductions in global rapeseed and sunflower production and U.S. soybeans. USDA estimated global rapeseed production at 68.6 million tonnes, a decline of one million, with the lion’s share of the losses in Canada. Canadian production for 2019-20 was […] Read more

CBOT December 2019 corn, with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

Crops, Markets, Reuters

U.S. grains: Corn, soybean futures ease

By GFM Network News September 27, 2019

Chicago | Reuters –– Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) corn and soybean futures closed lower on Friday, as weather forecasts showed fewer yield risks to Midwest crops ahead of harvesting, as traders jockeyed for positioning ahead of a U.S. grain stocks report slated for Monday, traders said. Meanwhile, CBOT wheat futures extended a technical bounce […] Read more

Crops, Reuters, Spring Wheat, Weather

Wet harvests hurt U.S., Canadian spring wheat quality

By Julie Ingwersen, GFM Network News September 21, 2019

Chicago | Reuters — Excessively wet conditions in the northern U.S. Plains and Canadian Prairies have hurt the quality of the region’s spring and durum wheat crops, potentially tightening supplies of top grades of the grains, handlers and agronomists said. Rains and heavy dew have slowed the harvest and, worse, caused mature, un-harvested wheat kernels […] Read more

ICE November 2019 canola with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

Canola, Crops, Markets

ICE weekly outlook: Canola breaks out of week-long funk

By GFM Network News September 11, 2019

MarketsFarm — It’s unclear yet what effect Thursday’s satellite field crop estimates from Statistics Canada will have on markets. Canola broke out of a six-day funk Wednesday, trending just slightly higher for the first time since Wednesday last week. Technical biases remain to the downside, as prices hover around contract lows. “There are a lot […] Read more

Crops, Pasture, Reuters, Weather

Rain gives farmers relief, for now, from three-year drought

By Rod Nickel, GFM Network News June 25, 2019

Winnipeg | Reuters — With drought turning Chad Ross’s pastures brown, the southeastern Saskatchewan rancher sent 140 head of cattle to slaughter earlier than usual this spring, as the Prairies’ three-year drought made them too expensive to feed. The ranch and feedlot near Estevan has lost money two straight years. Long-awaited rains that swept the […] Read more

Crops, Pasture, Weather

Prairie drought reaches tipping point

By GFM Network News June 19, 2019

MarketsFarm — The Prairie provinces have been under the influence of a large ridge of high pressure for a number of weeks, which has produced prolonged dryness with little precipitation. That high pressure system has pushed low-pressure, precipitation-carrying systems to the south, where the U.S. Midwest has already received significant rain. Environment Canada estimated the […] Read more

File photo of a sunflower crop in Manitoba. (MysticEnergy/Getty Images)

Crops, Markets, Weather

Sunflowers doing well despite drought

By GFM Network News June 5, 2019

MarketsFarm — Though many producers bemoan current drier-than-normal springtime conditions across the Prairies, sunflower crops are primed for a good year. “As long as there’s enough moisture to germinate, they immediately grow a really deep root system,” said Ben Friesen of Scoular Canada. While Statistics Canada estimated the 2019 sunflower acreage to remain pretty much […] Read more

Sea surface temperature anomalies over the equatorial Pacific for the week centred on April 3, 2019. (CPC.ncep.noaa.gov)

Crops, Weather

Prairies can expect unexpected from El Nino this summer

By GFM Network News April 12, 2019

MarketsFarm — The U.S. National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center on Thursday reported a 65 per cent chance of El Nino prevailing throughout 2019’s growing season. “A weak El Nino is likely to continue through the Northern Hemisphere summer 2019 (65 per cent chance) and possibly fall (50-55 per cent chance),” the CPC’s report said. […] Read more

General, Weather

Abrupt mid-March shift into spring predicted

By MarketsFarm Team, GFM Network News February 27, 2019

Winter conditions are expected to remain the norm across the Canadian Prairies through the middle of March, when a sudden pattern change brings an abrupt start to spring, according to the latest seasonal forecast from The Weather Network. The quick move from cold to warm conditions raises the risk of flooding in areas with a […] Read more

U.S. livestock: Hog futures hit contract highs on shock herd decline

Alberta Crop Report: Harvest more than three-quarters finished

NFU says proposed plant breeders’ rights come at farmers’ expense

GFM Network News