Weather & Production Tips

U.S. livestock: Live cattle hit contract highs on storm forecast

By Michael Hirtzer, GFM Network News January 15, 2019

Chicago | Reuters — Live cattle futures rose to life-of-contract highs at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday, lifted by worries that severe winter weather could prompt beef packers to pay higher prices for animals in the U.S. Plains, traders said. Technical buying and short-covering also buoyed cattle prices while lean hog futures finished narrowly […] Read more

Crops, Markets, Reuters, Weather

U.S. livestock: Hog futures drop in technical sell-off

By Michael Hirtzer, GFM Network News January 14, 2019

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. lean hog futures fell for the second straight session on Monday, sliding to a one-week low on pressure from technical selling and a lack of bullish information to propel gains, traders and analysts said. Feeder cattle futures also eased to the lowest since Jan. 7, while more actively traded live […] Read more

USDA’s main home page on Jan. 11, 2019. (GFM Staff photo)

Crops, Markets, Reuters, Weather

U.S. shutdown sends grain traders, farmers hunting for data

By Tom Polansek, GFM Network News January 11, 2019

Chicago | Reuters — When the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a slew of key farm reports would not be released on Friday due to the partial government shutdown, the phones at crop forecaster Gro Intelligence blew up. The USDA was set to release its views on the projected size of U.S. soybean stockpiles, among […] Read more

A file photo of Brazil’s Mata Atlantica (Atlantic rainforest). (FG Trade/E+/Getty Images)

General, Reuters, Weather

Bolsonaro gives Brazil farm ministry powers on indigenous land

By GFM Network News January 2, 2019

Rio de Janeiro/Brasilia | Reuters — New Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro issued an executive order on Wednesday making the agriculture ministry responsible for deciding on lands claimed by indigenous peoples, in a victory for agribusiness that will likely enrage environmentalists. The temporary decree, which will expire unless it is ratified within 120 days by Congress, […] Read more

Pacific Ocean sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in degrees Celsius for the week centred on Dec. 19. (CPC.ncep.noaa.gov)

Crops, Weather

El Nino likely not responsible for warm, dry conditions

By GFM Network News December 27, 2018

CNS Canada — The above-normal temperatures Western Canada has generally experienced since the fall weren’t necessarily caused by an El Nino. Rather, to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the phenomenon that’s likely affected the weather was a ‘blob’ that formed off of the coast of British Columbia. “It’s a big warm pocket of ocean water and […] Read more

A file photo of emerging corn in central Illinois. (DMathies/iStock/Getty Images)

Corn, Crops, Reuters, Weather

Early winter weather puts U.S. safe-haven corn planting in doubt

By GFM Network News December 24, 2018

Chicago | Reuters — Illinois farmer Brent Johnson had planned to bump up his corn acreage by 10 per cent in 2019 and plant fewer soybeans as a way to shelter himself from the lower soy prices caused by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff war with China. But some early winter storms caused him to […] Read more

Corn has been discounted across much of Ontario because of high levels of DON. There are challenges in marketing especially high infection level corn. (John Greig photo)

Corn, Crops, Weather

How Ontario’s new DON testing cost-share program works

By GFM Network News December 14, 2018

With vomitoxin (DON) levels so prevalent in this year’s corn crop, the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA) says a new DON testing cost-sharing initiative will help producers strategically market their grain. Why it matters: OSCIA says cost-sharing will help farmers know how severe their deoxynivalenol (DON) issues are, and how to market their […] Read more

Average sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies over the Pacific Ocean for the week centred on Dec. 5. (CPC.ncep.noaa.gov)

General, Reuters, Weather

U.S. forecaster sees 90 per cent chance of El Nino in winter

By Reuters, GFM Network News December 13, 2018

Reuters — There is a 90 per cent chance of the El Nino weather pattern emerging during the Northern Hemisphere winter of 2018-19, a U.S. government weather forecaster said on Thursday. “The official forecast favours the formation of a weak El Nino,” the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center (CPC) said in a monthly forecast. […] Read more

Fall rye flowering in south-central Manitoba. (Allan Dawson photo)

Crops, Weather, Winter Wheat

Fall rye’s popularity catching on Prairies

By GFM Network News December 7, 2018

CNS Canada — It’s good and bad news when it comes to winter cereal acreage in Western Canada. Winter wheat acres in Manitoba and Saskatchewan are down this fall, while acreage in Alberta increased, and fall rye acres in all provinces rose. “I think a lot of the guys that were growing winter wheat have […] Read more

Crops, Markets, Weather

December StatsCan report could vary from years past

By GFM Network News December 4, 2018

CNS Canada — After this fall’s long, drawn-out harvest, some analysts predict Statistics Canada’s final Production of Principal Field Crops numbers could vary from the usual pattern. StatsCan’s report, due out Thursday, is a “very uncertain” report “because that was probably one of the most bizarre falls we’ve ever had on the Prairies,” said Ken […] Read more

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