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Alberta has just expanded its Cattle Price Insurance Program to include calves. There were already programs for feeder cattle and fed cattle. Now, cow-calf producers in Alberta can buy price insurance from February to May of each year.  The policies expire during the fall calf run from September to December. The program is designed to …

You can’t have cheap food and expensive oil. It just doesn’t work. The price of food is making worldwide headlines. For hundreds of millions of people who earn only a dollar or two a day, increasing prices for staple foods like grains, pulses, rice and cooking oil is a big deal. The ethanol industry, particularly …

Here are some more considerations on durum marketing and the expected price difference between the current crop year and the upcoming crop year. Rolling over No. 1, 2 or 3 durum contracted for this crop year into the new crop year is allowed, but it carries a fee that’s currently $69.75 a tonne. The fee …

The Canadian Wheat Board has something called the new-pool pricing option that allows farmers the choice to deliver wheat and durum in the current crop year and still get the new crop year pool price. It sounds like a way to take advantage of the higher prices expected in the new crop year, particularly for …

A couple of interesting developments in the world of herbicides have crossed my desk in recent days. In the U.S., Dow AgroSciences has announced a new herbicide tolerant trait system. It will be called the Enlist Weed Control System. Crops with the trait will have robust tolerance to a 2,4-D product in addition to glyphosate.  …

Saskatchewan’s realized net farm income has been at an all time high for the past two years. In 2009, it was $1.6 billion and the latest estimate for 2010 is more than $1.7 billion. There are those who point out that adjusted for inflation, the highest net farm income was back in the early 70s …

The Pool Return Outlooks for new crop durum and malting barley are considerably higher than the prices expected for this crop year. The Canadian Wheat Board released its first new crop price projection yesterday. After deducting this year’s freight and handling for Saskatchewan, No. 1 durum with 12.5 per cent protein has a price outlook …

The Contract Price Option should allow producers to increase their crop insurance coverage on some crops. Under this option offered by Saskatchewan Crop Insurance, the contracted price and quantity can be used for insurance purposes. Take the example of yellow mustard. The crop insurance base price for 2011 is $12.47 a bushel. That’s just under …

Strong grain prices are making the Saskatchewan Crop Insurance program more attractive. Under the program details announced yesterday, coverage is going from an average of $131 an acre in 2010 to $173 an acre this year. You only need to look at the crop insurance base prices to know why. The crop insurance price for …

In recent weeks, I’ve spent a lot of time on the road, eating in hotel restaurants. If you’re staying in a nice hotel in a big city in this country, the price tag for meals can be a shocker. Some places automatically add a 15 per cent gratuity to the over-inflated bill just to add …

Tuesday was an ugly day in the grain markets. Everything dropped sharply, mostly limit down. Canola futures were down $30 a tonne. From the peak just a short time ago, canola is down $50 or $60 a tonne. The drop yesterday was counterintuitive, because crude oil prices went up sharply. Generally, when oil increases, grain …

The price of yellow peas has risen steadily since harvest. The Alberta Pulse Growers publish a bi-weekly newsletter called The Pulse Market Insight. The most recent edition is by Chuck Penner of LeftField Commodity Research. Penner acknowledges that pea prices were slow to rally due to massive supplies overhanging the market. Now, yellow peas are …