Philip Shaw

I’m wishing all of my American friends and colleagues at DTN a Happy Thanksgiving. I have a connection with American Thanksgiving as my grandmother was American and my sister-in-law is American. So, at this time of year, I usually celebrate with everybody else south of the border. However, this year, like so many places to…

I’ve been fortunate to meet a lot of farmers from all over the world. I’ve also been fortunate to meet farmers from all over Canada and the United States. It’s interesting, we have many of the same problems, as agricultural economics keeps us on that vicious efficiency treadmill. Keep doing things cheaper and better, then…

It’s over now, or at least it seems like it is. Maybe now, after several weeks of mentioning the elephant in the room, we can talk about it. The next President of the United States will be former Vice President Joe Biden with Senator Kamala Harris the Vice President. Of course, our American friends are…

Corn and soybean futures surged today to their contract highs and of course I’m still dreaming of $20 soybeans. I’m just kidding. If you have read this column over the last 34 years, you’ll know, that’s been a recurring theme of mine. I don’t know if I’ll ever get there, but keep in mind nobody…

It is snowing in Brazil. What you say? Well, I’m over the top there for sure, but in a way, it did. American soybeans were imported into Brazil last week. It was only one cargo load according to Bloomberg, but that is akin to Canada importing snow in January. We all know Brazil sold all…

Late September and early October gave us good weather for fall harvest. Well, so much for that. Last Sunday, the first raindrops shut down my soybean harvest and it’s been raining ever since. I only have about 5% of my total soybean harvest left, but the weather is resembling more like November instead of mid-October….

Things are not good, but on the other hand, not everything is about the Covid19 pandemic that continues to wage its brutal truth across the land. I talked to one of my machinery guys the other day and he assured me that the mood in the countryside among farmers is pretty good this fall. He…

I took some pictures today of some of my SRW wheat emerging from a field which is long overdue for wheat. In the deep south west of Ontario, the acreage of winter wheat largely depends on whether mother nature gives us the opportunity to get it planted. This year I’ve been fortunate, getting over half…

Combines have begun to roll in SW Ontario even though all the soybeans are not necessarily ready. I got rolling September 22nd into an early field. I even had one load of soybeans test 9.8%, which I think is the lowest moisture reading I’ve ever received over a career for soybeans. Warm late summer weather…

Combines have begun to roll in SW Ontario even though all the soybeans are not necessarily ready. I got rolling September 22nd into an early field. I even had one load of soybeans test 9.8%, which I think is the lowest moisture reading I’ve ever received over a career for soybeans. Warm late summer weather…