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The price projections for wheat and durum have dimmed a bit over the past month. In the Pool Return Outlooks released yesterday, most grades of wheat are down 20 to 25 cents a bushel in this crop year and 60 to 70 cents a bushel in the new crop year. The drops are greater on …

The performance of CP Rail has been nothing short of terrible. Some observers say that CP has never really recovered since the washout of its mainline at Maple Creek last summer. There have also been some avalanche issues over the winter. However, snow in the mountains is a usual occurrence. All the numbers show that …

Check the calendar. It doesn’t look like the 23rd of March outside. The few gophers that have emerged look a bit surprised as well. A month from now in a normal year, seeding would be underway in a few parts of Saskatchewan. It’s hard to believe that’s going to happen this year. A slow melt …

It’s rare to have widespread agreement by farm groups on a policy initiative, but the federal government is receiving a lot of praise for its plan to deal with railway performance. The accolades are coming from across the political spectrum. It was widely expected that the Rail Service Review conducted over the past couple years …

China and India figure prominently into the discussion about the future of Canadian agriculture. Although China has received a lot of attention over many years, India has become a huge market, particularly for Saskatchewan peas and lentils. Thus, the just-concluded Saskatchewan trade mission to India. The economy of China is roughly four times larger than …

According to market analyst Chuck Penner of Leftfield Commodity Research, there have been a number of interesting developments in the grain markets over the course of this crop year. In field peas, there has been a complete turnaround in the ending stocks situation. Yellow pea exports have been amazingly brisk meaning we’ll end the crop …

Following the events of recent weeks, many grain markets have dropped dramatically and there are a lot of references to Black Swan events and the Black Swan theory. By definition, a Black Swan event is one that is a surprise to the observer while having a major impact. In retrospect, you wonder why it wasn’t …

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has come out with its latest market forecast for grains, oilseeds and specialty crops. The forecast includes an estimate of this year’s seeded acreage and their numbers generally look quite plausible, assuming there isn’t a major acreage that has to go unseeded. The biggest acreage drop is forecast on lentils, down …

Statistics Canada has released a pile of data and estimates related to agriculture. Not surprisingly, the stats show that large farms are accounting for an increasing share of production. In 2008, 65 per cent of farms were in the small category with gross revenues of less than $100,000 a year. Fifteen percent of farms were …

NDP Leader Dwain Lingenfelter is criticizing the Sask Party government for the big increase in Crop Insurance premiums. Link is either trying to score cheap political points or he’s not very well informed on how Crop Insurance works. On the surface, a 21 per cent increase in premiums for this year sounds large, but in …

The Saskatchewan Watershed Authority has delivered another update on the flood outlook for this spring, but it notes that the forecast is based on limited data and should only be used as a general guideline for large areas. I had always suffered under the illusion that precipitation statistics were reliable. The flood watch for this …

You’ve maybe read it in a daily paper or seen it on the television news. The price of beer is going to increase because the price of malting barley is higher. Consumers are being advised to brace for the shock. Oh, the horror of it all. Let’s put this into a bit of perspective. Yes, …