The Viterra - CWB announcement today at Canada's Farm Progress Show has definitely grabbed the attention of farmers. I was fortunate to run into Brenda Tjaden Lepp, Farmlink Marketing Solutions at the show. Brenda attended the CWB press conference and had some strong feeling about the benefits of the announcement and the state of the... Read More
Category: Markets
The Canadian Wheat Board has announced that they have signed a grain handling agreement with Viterra staring August 1, 2012. The agreement will be a compliment to the Cargill agreement that was reached previously. The CWB - Viterra agreement will also provide the CWB with access at the port. Since the CWB does not own... Read More
The global economy continues to be quite tentative. The situation with Greece and the implications for the eurozone as well as the slow recoveries in North American markets and elsewhere have investors walking on eggshells. Agriculture doesn't seem to be exempt from that vulnerability either. Markets have been quite volatile, with commodity prices bouncing up... Read More
Today’s Canfax COF report for May 1 exposes the current feedlot inventory situation. As of May 1, total numbers on feed were down 7% from last year, down 10% from 2010 and the smallest May 1 inventory other than 2008. Coincidentally, that was also a year that saw large exports of feeder cattle during the... Read More
Like a company reporting earnings to the market, StatsCan released their stocks report. The clear indication from the report is that canola stocks are very low. As we look at the current 2012 seeding season (follow #plant12), this report does not provide increased planting incentive that wasn't already there. The intended 20 million acres of... Read More
August 1, 2012 officially changes the way the wheat producers and industry members do business out west. With that date spelling the end of the single desk marketing system, farmers, buyers and processors have to look closely at their respective businesses and adapt to a whole new ball game. For some involved in the industry,... Read More
As we head closer into the Western Canadian spring we have always seen a premium in fertilizer prices. Typically, local supply demand fundamentals become the key driver of price and international markets fall more to the side. The historical premium in the market that is created is based on the fact that local fertilizer manufacturers... Read More
The story for corn in 2012 is going to depend on a number of things. Numbers are first and foremost the determining factor in this story. How much demand will there be globally? How many acres are going to be planted? How much good seed is available to be planted? What will the yields look... Read More
It looks as though the basics of supply and demand are at work in a dramatic way in the soybean market to the point where soybeans could return to the highs of 2008. China is leading the charge on the demand side both from the consumer and the livestock end with growth in global demand... Read More
Market turmoil has always been something that producers have had to deal with, but increasingly, one of the only characteristics of the markets you count on is the instability of the markets. As analyst John DePutter put it, " Volatility is a fact of life in the markets." Those ups and downs have become more... Read More