There’s no doubt that nitrogen prices have seen a steep price increase again as of late. Most of this momentum is being propelled by the current state of the natural gas market. Sam Taylor, farm input analyst with Rabo AgriFinance, says North American natural gas prices are the highest they’ve been since about 2008. “What… Read More
Category: Economy & Financial Markets
The Bank of Canada surprised many this week, announcing a 100 basis-point increase in its interest rate. The market expected a 75 basis-point increase, and there was discussion of it being lower, not higher. Increasing interest rates are designed to curb inflation, which is climbing at an incredible rate. We want to know: what impact… Read More
If the best offence is a good defence, the reverse is also true. Momentum is a wave that’s always better to ride when it’s working in your favour. Since the fall of 2020, it has paid major dividends to grow and hold. Crop inventory has been in very tight hands and for very good reason…. Read More
What goes up must come down, but if you’re waiting for deflation to begin any time soon, you may be in for a long wait. Inflation — and the increasing interest rates designed to put a pin in it — is top of mind for every economist right now, and Farm Credit Canada’s chief economist… Read More
Grain markets are losing some steam as summer starts to heat up, but it’s not the dry corn crop that’s driving the sell-off. Joe Vaclavik, founder and president of Standard Grain based in Tennessee, says that yes, weather is front and centre for those with plenty of experience trading agriculture commodities, but there’s far more… Read More
After a few years’ pause, the Bank of Canada increased the overnight rate March 2, 2022. Analysts suggests it’s the first of at leasts two or more increases for this calendar year alone, to try and cool inflation (that is sitting just below 6 per cent at last report). For lines of credit, variable rate… Read More
It seems the only certainty in the ag industry is knowing there will always be a level of uncertainty. Knowing this, Agricultural Economic Insights (AEI) have designed a tool to help farmers forecast commodity prices within specific timeframes, share their predictions, and even get a payout if they are the most accurate. David Widmar, with… Read More
The 2021 average increase in farmland values isn’t entirely surprising, says J.P. Gervais, chief economist for Farm Credit Canada (FCC), but the magnitude of the increase certainly is. With a weighted average of 8.3 per cent on the year, the significant weather events of the year — the extreme drought for the Prairies and parts of… Read More
It’s widely speculated that the Bank of Canada is set to increase its interest rate beginning later this month, and likely will do so more than a few times over the course of 2022. While you can argue the validity of using interest rates to temper inflation, there’s no doubt that Canada — and the world… Read More
One of the conversations in the first few weeks of the new year often ask the question “What should I be paying attention to?” Farm Credit Canada (FCC) has released its list of the top 5 economic trends for Canadian agriculture and food to watch in 2022. J.P. Gervais, chief economist at FCC, joined RealAg… Read More
There might be some assumptions about what the impact of the ongoing pandemic has been on the global middle class and there might also be the underlying realities that explain what’s going on. COVID changed everything in supply and production chains and really pointed out the precarious nature of those systems, says Carlo Dade, director… Read More
The economic state of affairs for Canada right now is an interesting mix of rising prices, decreasing unemployment, and strong demand for export goods. There are both positive and negative factors at play in Canada’s economic recovery from the pandemic. Craig Klemmer, principal economist at Farm Credit Canada says that we’re seeing different levels of… Read More
Turn on Bloomberg, CNBC, or Fox News and just about every mainstream news outlet is talking about inflation. But how worried should farmers or ranchers be about inflation? In some ways, farmers or ranchers may be set up to benefit from inflation, says Shawn Hass of RBC Dominion Securities, in this interview with Shaun Haney… Read More
A recent U.S. federal reserve meeting resulted in an indication that attention to interest rate movement will be sped up in the future. “There’s been a few mixed messages, actually, out of the press conferences that followed that statement of the federal reserve,” says JP Gervais, chief economist at Farm Credit Canada. Gervais says it… Read More
A Tuesday morning run up in the grain markets caught many market watchers by surprise. What’s at play so early in the growing season? Jon Driedger with Leftfield Commodity Research says that, yes, this really does seem to be a weather related rally for the most part, and that’s a bit of a surprise. Coming… Read More