Insights and Stories of Phil Franz-Warkentin

Flax sector slowly recovers from Day of the Triffids

Oct. 10, 2012 at 11:26 pm CDT

Canada’s flaxseed industry continues to make progress eliminating traces of genetically modified Triffid seed from the country’s crop, but there is still work to be done given Europe’s very tight allowances for the gene. Triffid, a genetically modified flaxseed variety, was bred in Saskatchewan in the 1990s for tolerance to […]

StatsCan confirms surprisingly small canola crop

Oct. 4, 2012 at 1:53 pm CDT

By Phil Franz-Warkentin

Smaller canola crop expected from StatsCan

Oct. 4, 2012 at 3:51 am CDT

By Phil Franz-Warkentin

Fund traders exit canola longs

Oct. 1, 2012 at 5:22 pm CDT

By Phil Franz-Warkentin

Canola crush margins tightening

Sep. 25, 2012 at 5:13 pm CDT

By Phil Franz-Warkentin

Minnesota canola crusher creates new delivery option

Sep. 18, 2012 at 12:32 am CDT

A new canola crusher at Hallock, Minn., just south of the Canadian border, is operating at full capacity or above and is providing a good opportunity for farmers with canola to sell in both the US and Canada. The Northstar Agri Industries facility started initial operations in May and was […]

By Phil Franz-Warkentin

Canola exports picking up steam

Sep. 12, 2012 at 8:27 am CDT

New-crop canola supplies currently finding their way into the commercial pipeline in western Canada are helping set the stage for another record export program for the commodity. "It’s expected to be fairly busy, and I don’t see anything that would change that," said Lach Coburn, west coast manager of shipping […]

By Phil Franz-Warkentin

Sunflowers bounce back in Manitoba

Sep. 10, 2012 at 5:43 pm CDT

Manitoba farmers will start bringing in this year’s sunflower crop by mid-September, and early reports point to a large, good-quality crop that will help replenish supplies in the province. After planting only 35,000 acres of sunflowers in 2011, due to adverse spring conditions, area in the province bounced back in […]

By Phil Franz-Warkentin

Strong prices lure chickpeas back to Sask.

Jun. 6, 2012 at 5:25 am CDT

Saskatchewan farmers are expected to more than double the area planted to chickpeas in the province this year, as improving prices made the crop a more attractive option. The acreage increase was “driven by some fairly strong prices for chickpeas relative to where they’ve been the last number of years,” […]

By Phil Franz-Warkentin

ICE’s grain futures waiting on cash market

Jun. 6, 2012 at 5:16 am CDT

Trade in milling wheat, durum, and barley contracts on the ICE Futures Canada platform remains slow, but officials at the Winnipeg-based arm of IntercontinentalExchange remain confident liquidity will build in the new contracts over the next few months, as the cash market also takes shape. Legislation passed by the Canadian […]

By Phil Franz-Warkentin