(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Funds cover some shorts in grains, oilseeds

MarketsFarm — The net fund short position in canola was reduced slightly during the week ended Tuesday, according to the latest commitment of traders (CoT) report from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Speculators also bought back some of their bearish bets in soybeans and corn, the CoT report noted. The net managed money […] Read more

ICE January 2020 canola (candlesticks) and CBOT January 2020 soybeans (yellow line). (Barchart)

ICE weekly outlook: Canola values stay rangebound

MarketsFarm — Canola prices have been characterized as “firm one day and softer the next,” this week, remaining largely rangebound in light trading activity. “It’s hard to tell why, but canola oscillates between stronger than soybeans and then weaker,” said Ken Ball of P.I. Financial in Winnipeg. “It’s just spreaders playing back and forth with […] Read more





Female soybean cyst nematodes feeding on soybean plant roots form bulbous, egg-filled nodules from which their young hatch the following spring. (Keith Weller photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Soybean cyst nematode confirmed in Manitoba

A damaging soybean pest that was expected to show up sooner or later in agricultural Manitoba has officially arrived. Crop surveys by University of Manitoba Ph.D. student Nazanin Ghavami with soil science professor Mario Tenuta and his students have turned up soybean cyst nematode at “extremely low” levels on soybean plant roots in one field […] Read more

(Sakakawea7/iStock/Getty Images)

Trump trade-war aid sows frustration in farm country

Rochester, Minnesota | Reuters — The U.S. government is paying Texas cotton farmer J. Walt Hagood US$145 an acre for losses related to U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade policies. But Minnesota soybean farmer Betsy Jensen will get just US$35 an acre. Both farmers’ sales have taken heavy blows in Trump’s trade war with China. Neither […] Read more



The Chicago Board of Trade building on May 28, 2018. (Harmantasdc/iStock Editorial/Getty Images)

CBOT weekly outlook: Expected U.S. soybean, corn yields down

MarketsFarm –– The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) September supply and demand report saw downward revisions for corn and soybeans, but kept its estimates for wheat where they were in August. The department on Thursday released its new world agricultural supply and demand estimates (WASDE). “Prices rallied after the report came out because of the […] Read more


A corn crop west of Grunthal, Man. on Aug. 17, 2019. (Dave Bedard photo)

StatsCan forecasts near-record corn crop

MarketsFarm — Canada’s corn crop is forecast to be the second largest on record despite a delayed start to spring planting, as yields showed an improvement from earlier forecasts, according to updated production estimates Thursday from Statistics Canada. Using a combination of satellite imagery, previous survey data, and agro-climatic data, the latest Statistics Canada report […] Read more