Philip Shaw

I cringed last week when I read the front page of the popular regional farm newspaper I write for in southern Ontario with the headline, which said corn was going to $6 a bushel.  At first glance I had to take a double take to make sure I had not said that and thankfully I…

Just where are we now?  That was the thought that danced through my mind today as I left Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show.  The show in Woodstock is always a late summer repository for sober second thought our production season.  As I walked the different lanes of the show I heard from many of you regarding…

It doesn’t happen very often.  On September 7th I got to question another Minister of Agriculture at the Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) meeting in Guelph.  I say another because I’ve had many opportunities to do that over a 25-year career writing this column.  There is no better way than to stare the minister in…

For those counting today is September 2nd.  Why is that any way interesting?  If you are a watcher of the corn chart like I am you will see that the December contract closed at $4.47/bu today.  For me, that’s an occasion to break out the bubbly.  It’s not that futures prices are high; it’s just…

This week I left my drought plagued fields of southwestern Ontario and am currently ensconced in suburban Minneapolis Minnesota.  On the way, I got to see a lot of corn and soybeans, through Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin.  Is the yield there, some of you must be thinking?  I think so. Everything looks good to…

In Saskatchewan, I’m sure it is a bit like an earthquake.  The news of a hostile takeover of the Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan by Australian-based BHP Billiton is surely buzzing in the Tim Horton’s coffee shops of Saskatoon.  Is this a good thing or should your Canadian sensibilities be welling up inside you? Potash is…

The August USDA reports came out today and boosted 2010 production for corn and soybeans.  In many of the years before this raising the production number in an August USDA report would put a punctuation mark on the final crop number and send prices in a downward spiral.  Not so in 2010.  It would seem…

It has become popular over the last few weeks to compare the wheat market with Newton’s laws of physics.  The analogy is an obvious one because I believe it was Sir Isaac Newton who threw an apple up in the air, which turned around and hit him on the head, thus leading to the discovery…

There are some things, which are just hard to describe.  Last week I participated in one of the greatest agricultural events to ever take place in Canada.  The “Greatest Tractor Parade”, farmers driving out cancer took place last Saturday in my home community of Dresden Ontario.  1231 tractors crossed the finish line of the parade,…

I finished up my wheat harvest today.  It seemed I had a target on the top of my combine cab.  Even today it rained.  So I think that means that next year we will have a long dry period and wheat harvest will be over in about two days.   So after I took my last…