Ontario Agriculture

The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada

Corn: What now?

Now that the corn price has gone over $5 what does everyone think it will do now?

 

It would be nice to see it continue to go up. Any thoughts of another recession bring the price back down.

 

 

Michael

Views: 105

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by OntAG Admin on September 18, 2010 at 5:48am
Permalink Reply by Joann on September 28, 2010 at 8:24am
By all accounts, the financial situation to the south of us appear to have the hallmarks of another recession as you suggest Michael. As our federal minister of finance, Mr. Flaherty has announced the recession of 08 ended, I can well imagine the looming American financial difficulties will inspire new verbiage for the approaching recession..... but the price of commodities???

There has been some interesting discussions concerning the price of commodities... and as we all know... the price in Chicago does not always translate in the same way to the farmer.

The UN Special Rapporteur on food, Mr. Olivier De Schutter, released a report recently called the Food Commodities Speculation and Food Price Crises.

Mr. De Schutter writes: '[Beginning in ]2001, food commodities derivatives markets, and commodities indexes began to see an influx of non-traditional investors,; De Schutter writes. 'The reason for this was because other markets dried up one by one: the dotcoms vanished at the end of 2001, the stock market soon after, and the US housing market in August 2007. As each bubble burst, these large institutional investors moved into other markets, each traditionally considered more stable than the last. Strong similarities can be seen between the price behaviour of food commodities and other refuge values, such as gold.'

Further stating: 'A significant contributory cause of the price spike [has been] speculation by institutional investors who did not have any expertise or interest in agricultural commodities, and who invested in commodities index funds or in order to hedge speculative bets.'
http://www.stwr.org/food-security-agriculture/food-commodities-spec...

Problem identified.

Now for the reactions: Engage the public

"An ActionAid report released last week revealed that hunger could be costing poor nations $450bn a year – more than 10 times the amount needed to halve hunger by 2015 and meet Millennium Development Goal One." http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/sep/24/food-crisis-un-em...

Solution: take Sovereignty away from individual nations for the ultimate solution of global food regulation.

Jacques Diouf, Director-General, UN Food and Agriculture Organization, called for "bolstered global governance system for world food security". He said, “We have to build a more coherent and effective system of governance for world food security; we have to correct the policies and international trade system that have resulted in more hunger and poverty." when responding to the 2008 food crisis (which many blamed on bio-fuels at the time)


Will the higher prices translate into more money for the farmers? I doubt it. There appears to be a movement afoot to control agricultural commodity prices under the guise of "food security" with enhanced trade.

If anything, food commodity prices will be globally harmonized... which will not bode well for Ontario farmers.

▶ Reply to Discussion

RSS

Agriculture Headlines from Farms.com Canada East News - click on title for full story

Alberta Rural Municipalities Pushing For Raw Milk

The Rural Municipalities of Alberta have voted to push for changes to Canada’s raw milk laws. At this week’s convention, two-thirds of Alberta towns and counties backed a resolution from the MD of Greenview calling on Ottawa to allow on-farm sales of unpasteurized dairy under strict conditions. Supporters say modern safety practices—like closed milking systems, refrigeration, and microbial testing—can reduce health risks. They point to European models where raw milk is legal with producer registration, labelling, and traceability. Right now, raw milk sales are banned in Canada, driving an underground market. Advocates argue a regulated system would give consumers choice and help rural economies thrive. Alberta’s agriculture department opposes the move.

Water driven yield potential technology aims to improve ROI for producers

Water is one of the most important inputs in agriculture, and is often the most significant factor limiting crop yield, particularly in dryland farming. Working with EMILI at Innovation Farms powered by AgExpert during the 2025 season allowed Crop Intelligence to fine-tune its Dryland Farming Ultra Package to help producers better understand their water driven yield potential (WDYP). Dryland Farming Ultra is a hardware and software solution that allows farmers and agronomists to monitor the total available water for their crop, and use that information to make informed decisions on overall crop agronomy. Often, producers use soil tests and tissue tests and base agronomy decisions on these results. Crop Intelligence allows producers to take it one step further to measure how much can be grown based on the total amount of water available. “I think there are a lot of assumptions in any given year about how much can be grown, but without actually measuring it, it’s impossible to know whe

This is agriculture: Third-generation Manitoba grain farmer

Rick Rutherford is a third-generation farmer whose deep passion for agriculture has led to local and international partnerships focused on advancing innovation and supporting the next generation of farmers. Rutherford is the first producer EMILI partnered with when launching Innovation Farms powered by AgExpert in 2022. Locating the first Innovation Farms on Rutherford’s 5,500-acre seed farm in Grosse Isle, Manitoba has allowed EMILI to provide innovators with access to leading-edge equipment, technology, and production practices to increase productivity, sustainability, and profitability across the agriculture and agri-food sector. Rutherford Farms has hosted Harvest on the Crescent since 2021. Each year a different crop grows on Wellington Crescent while raising money for Harvest Manitoba. Over the past five years this initiative has raised thousands.  Describe your job in one sentence. I am a third-generation farmer operating a pedigreed seed and commercial grain farm located in

John Deere defending against misinformation again

A video circulating online indicates the manufacturer is leaving Canada

Border restrictions in place due to U.S. vesicular stomatitis outbreak

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has announced temporary import restrictions on horses, swine, and ruminants — including cattle — from certain U.S. states following an outbreak of vesicular stomatitis (VS). Importation of these animals from affected states is currently suspended until further notice. Canadian-origin animals that have been in a VS-affected state within the past 21 days will also be denied re-entry to Canada, except under very limited circumstances. To return to Canada, animals must have been moved to a non-affected state, remained there for at least 21 days, and be certified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as originating from areas free of clinical or epidemiological evidence of VS during that period. Producers and transporters are encouraged to avoid travel through VS-affected states whenever possible. If transit through these areas is unavoidable, shippers must complete a supplementary declaration upon arrival at a Canadian port of entry.

© 2025   Created by Darren Marsland.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service