Philip Shaw

I’m going to Brazil.  What you say.  Yes, I’m going to Brazil.  I don’t know when, but I’m going there.  With President Bush set to touch down there on his Latin American tour, any good agricultural economist should follow his lead.  It would seem President Bush has caught ethanol fever.  In Brazil, I expect him…

A year ago farm country burned with a swirl of farmer anger and frustration.  Into the cross hairs was a Canadian agricultural policy bereft of any substance to stem the flood of red ink.  Many of us took unpaid leave from our farms to work together with others in a focused, aggressive and straight up…

We are breathing some pretty rare air.  The nearby March corn and May futures months continue to smash through recent highs.  Last Thursday the March corn finished at $4.34 bu. and the May finished at $4.47 bu.  Are we losing our mind?  Is the market always right, like I’ve said so many times?  Was it…

This week I find myself at the “Louisville Farm Show”, the super bowl of agriculture in North America.  There is nothing quite like it, especially in Canada.  I might be a bit late because of a mid winter snow storm, but I’ll be there.  Many other Canadian farmers find themselves in the same vote.  If…

The US replacement price for Ontario corn is currently approaching $5 bushel.  In fact last Wednesday I calculated US replacement price at $4.96 cents.  That’s the Michigan FOB price –15 over the nearby futures price of $3.92 cents US.  Add 40 cents US for transportation and convert to Canadian funds and it looks like a…

If there is one constant over a 20 year career of writing this column, its the US Farm Bill.  The 2007 US Farm Bill is currently being debated and fought over.  With the ethanol gold rush just getting started, it’ll be intriguing from a Canadian perspective to see its final shape. I believe the 2007…

Canada is a very big country.  As farmers we know that.  I get mail from all over this big country.  Yes, Saskatchewan is a big place, but so is Quebec.  Ditto for Alberta and Manitoba.  And sometimes on the flat farm country of southwestern Ontario I know what’s good for us.  However, what’s good for…

It was like a sucker punch in a boxing match.  Last Friday the USDA came out and put the 2006/07 corn crop at 10.535 billion bushels, down from the December 2006 estimate of 10.735.  For farmers, traders, brokers, grain liars and end users, it was like a referee had separated the players and as they…

On Friday the USDA will come out with their latest estimate of crop size, stocks and host of other figures most agricultural commentators would die for.  I’m wondering if the worst corn crop in three years (10.7 billion bushels) will get even smaller. I know.  Many of you think me describing the third largest American…

If change is our only constant in agriculture, you have to take the good with the bad.  With the changing psychology in the grain markets, Ontario farmers in late 2006 were the recipients of the good.  A 80 % rise in the futures price for corn and a 12% rise in the futures price of…