Philip Shaw

Wheat harvest ended for me July 23rd, as the best harvest weather of the season finally won the day. I had a series of “negative externalities” as my economist cousins like to say. That consisted of a soft tire that turned into a nail in the sidewall, a bad wheel bearing and a sprocket moving…

It has been another wet week here, which is challenging at best for Ontario’s wheat harvest. Today dawned cloudy and stormy looking as usual, not a wheat day for sure. However, for whatever reason, there was a coolish breeze on a day when you’d least expect it. I started combining towards noon in exasperation. The…

Happy Canada Day everyone. Today was a rather subdued Canada largely because Covid still stalks our country, and we are living under restrictions. It was also subdued because many parts of the country have canceled any type of Canada Day celebration to recognize the tragedy of the residential school graves documented over the last several…

Well, that was a kick in the pants. Grains got nuked today. Last week I said 2021 markets were waiting for the next big thing. It was almost like the algorithms were listening to me, as December corn finished down the 40-cent limit, November soybeans were down 90 cents. As we head into Friday, there…

Markets remained volatile this week. You think? Let me tell you, it’s been a violent roller coast ride as corn, soybeans and wheat have swung wildly, as the algorithms were almost like getting emotional. I had one Ontario farmer lament to me last week, he couldn’t stand it anymore. I don’t really know what that…

We were limit up today in corn, but limit down last Tuesday. What happens tomorrow? Of course, I like to keep that secret, but if you know, drop me a note. Hot and dry is coming as we’ll greet June next week. We’ve got those speculative limits increased at the CME and as was discussed…

We’ve had a good stretch of planting weather here in SW Ontario. I should be putting the soybean drill away tomorrow. It’s been a while since I’ve done that in May. Of course, in the deep southwest of Ontario, we often say, we got the soybeans planted the first time, as often heavy rains seals…

I finished corn planting the other day, and maybe that’s why there has been a U-turn in December corn. Of course, I’m just kidding, but corn is down approximately 80 cents since last Friday, so remember what I said about volatility. The next 4 weeks of market action are not going to be for the…

As surprises go, it was one of the more unusual ones. A farmer neighbour stopped over and told me there was a beaver dam at the back of a farm adjacent to me and I might have noticed more water in the ditch back there. I didn’t think much about it until he left, then…

I have been literally thrown out of banks before. Now, it was a long time ago and its always a stretch to say such a thing, but perspective sometime can grow more vivid with time. Over a career I have seen quite a change in the agricultural credit landscape. In the 1980s when I started,…