Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food says a combination of factors will keep hog prices volatile with some strengthening as we move toward spring. Brad Marceniuk said while live hog prices have continued to fluctuate, they have improved since the beginning of February when higher U.S. slaughter numbers and higher volumes of chicken and pork in cold storage pushed prices down.

American production of field peas and lentils has risen dramatically in response to government support under the Loan Deficiency Payment program. My colleague Kevin Hursh in Saskatoon, SA says back in 2002, the U.S. placed pulse crops under the LDP effectively guaranteeing producers a floor price. A report just released from Agriculture Canada shows the subsequent acreage and production increases.

Canada Western Red Spring wheat can once again enter the United States, duty free. A U.S. tariff that stopped imports of Canada’s largest crop since 2003 has been fully dismantled, cementing a major NAFTA victory for western Canadian farmers. On February 24, the U.S. Customs notified all American ports of entry that imports of Canadian hard red spring wheat are …

It looks like Canada’s new Ag Minister is retreating from making changes to the Canadian Wheat Board, at least not quickly. In meeting with CWB officials, Manitoba’s Ag Minister Rosann Wowchuk, and reporters after the meeting, Strahl said, “What I said to the wheat board’s board of directors is the same thing that I’ve been saying publicly . . . that our campaign promise was to move toward dual marketing.”

The Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute in Humboldt, Saskatchewan hopes to field test a new and improved prototype solid manure injection system this spring.

Many of the readers of Agwired may not know that Manitoba, that northern Canadian province, just north of North Dakota, and on the way to Churchill and polar bears, is soybean country. Yep, not millions of acres, but ½ a million if weather conditions are right.

What do growing forages and BSE have in common you may ask? When the BSE crisis hit the Canadian cattle industry in 2003, most watched cattle producers struggle, what to do with their cattle, in some cases almost worthless. However, the effects of that crisis reached out to almost every segment selling into that industry.

Let me introduce you to Harry Siemens because you’ll be seeing his writing here on AgWired on a regular basis. We’re in a global farm economy right? So why not have some Canadian perspective? This is going to be fun. I’m just getting to know Harry and you and I will get to know him better together. Harry lives in Winkler, Manitoba. That’s not too far from the U. S. border. Harry “gets” this blogging thing and I’m really excited to have him become a part of the AgWired world.